Successful Managers: Perceptions of Women in Traditional and Nontraditional Fields.

This paper presents findings of a study that examined female college students' perceptions of a successful manager in traditional and nontraditional sex-dominated occupations--nursing and management, respectively. The influence of the subjects' own sex-role orientation and self-efficacy were investigated. It was hypothesized that the traditional group of nursing students would have a feminine sex-role orientation, perceive the successful manager in masculine terms, and have low self-efficacy for the supervisory position. Management students were expected to have a more egalitarian sex-role orientation and to perceive the successful manager in more egalitarian terms, and have a higher self-efficacy for the management positions. Data were collected through a questionnaire of 164 female college students from several colleges in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties (66 from business/management classes and 98 from nursing programs). Instruments included the Schein Descriptive Index, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, and a general scale of self-efficacy. Findings supported the sex-role orientations hypothesis. Nursing students did have a more feminine sex-role identification. The hypothesis for self-efficacy was also supported, and management students exhibited higher self-efficacy for the management position. However, no differences were found in the way the two groups perceived the successful manager. Two figures and one table are included. (LMI)