COPING STRATEGIES OF MANAGERS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF GENDER
Lucia Zbihlejová
Department of Intercultural Communication, Faculty of Management, University of Prešov in Prešov, Konštantínova 16, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia; lucia.zbihlejova@unipo.sk
Miroslav Frankovský
Department of Managerial Psychology, Faculty of Management, University of Prešov in Prešov, Konštantínova 16, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia; miroslav.frankovsky@unipo.sk
Zuzana Birknerová
Department of Managerial Psychology, Faculty of Management, University of Prešov in Prešov, Konštantínova 16, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia; zuzana.birknerova@unipo.sk
Ladislav Suhányi
Department of Marketing and International Trade, Faculty of Management, University of Prešov in Prešov, Konštantínova 16, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia; ladislav.suhanyi@unipo.sk
ABSTRACT
The main objective of the proposed paper is to find out whether there exist any statistically significant differences in the assessment of the selected behavioral strategies in coping with stressful or demanding situations between managers from the perspective of gender. A differential analysis was conducted on the sample of 129 respondents (55 male managers: 42.6% and 74 female managers:
57.4%).) on the basis of the data obtained by means of two methodologies for detecting the coping strategies: Brief Cope (Carver 1997) and CISS (Endler a Parker 1990). The results of the analysis confirmed the existence of statistically significant differences between the male and the female managers in assessing the individual coping strategies in demanding managerial situations. Based on these results it may be concluded that in terms of assessment of the coping behavior, male managers use active coping more extensively, whereas female managers have a greater tendency to use the emotion-oriented coping strategies.
Keywords: coping, coping strategies, gender, male manager, female manager
Introduction
According to European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2005), 50% to 60% of absence from work is associated with the work-related stress. It represents a huge loss for the human psyche as well as an impaired economic performance of a person. In the context of managerial environment, it is possible to argue that stress involves the process of transmitting a certain infection, while the manager's mood is perceived as the "contagion". Research in this area focuses on studying how managers' moods affect individuals as well as the emotional tone in a group (Johnson 2008; Sy, Cote
& Saavedra 2005).
Behavior of managers, such as support, empowerment, and high-quality relationship with their employees, can help prevent stress while improving stress management and emotional well-being for employees (Schaufeli & Enzmann 1998; Rajnoha et al. 2016). Stress among managers and employees can be affected by the workplace relationships with colleagues, employees and supervisors.
According to Pearlin and Schooler (1978), psychosocial resources represent personal and social characteristics capable of preventing or mitigating the development of the stress process and its outcome. The authors define coping as any reaction to external life stimuli that serves to prevent, avoid, or control emotional effort. The authors further state that social status or gender can put a structure to the access to the psychosocial resources.
The aim of the presented contribution is thus to enrich the knowledge in the area of coping with demanding situations by managers in terms of their gender on the basis of an analysis of differences in the assessment of the selected strategies of behaving in stressful, i.e. demanding situations between male and female managers.
Coping and Gender
In general, coping, i.e. stress management, is defined as a constantly changing cognitive and behavioral effort to cope with a certain internal and/or external requirement that is assessed as a tax or overrun of the individual's resources (Lazarus & Folkman 1984). There are different approaches to coping with stress which are in literature generally known as coping strategies.
In some studies (e.g. Amirkhan 1990, Endler & Parker 1990), the authors based their theories on three types of alternating styles: problem-orientation, emotion-orientation, and avoiding interest, while focusing on the coping styles as the psychosocial resources among young men and women.
Gender differences in coping with demanding situations are ways in which men and women differ in managing mental stress. Li et al. (2006) found out that adolescent women are more likely than men to use rumination coping and that this particular coping method was significantly associated with depression. With regard to these differences in the ways of coping with demanding situations, the studies vary. Conventional stress-management studies have mostly concluded that compared to men, women are more likely to use emotional coping techniques (Billings & Moos 1984, Carver, Scheier and Weintraub 1989, Stone & Neale 1984).
More recent studies (e.g. Anshel, Sutarso & Jubenville 2009, Garnefski et al. 2003) also noted that women use more emotional techniques such as crying, seeking help and/or holding onto the source and the causes of their depression. Daughtry and Paulk (2006) focused on the gender differences by means of the qualitative research, finding that both men and women use a variety of coping strategies, although women tend to use a wider range of responses to coping and are more prone to help solve their problems as compared to men. This study points out that when examining gender differences, it is important to avoid the simplified dichotomy of the "emotion vs. problem" coping.
Davis, Matthews and Twamley (1999) found that men often experience stress in their careers, while women often face stress because of the problems in interpersonal relationships. Earlier studies (e.g., Billings & Moos 1984) confirmed the existence of gender differences in stress sources, but gender differences in coping with stress were relatively small. When studying individuals in similar situations, Brannon and Feist (2009) have similarly revealed only minimal differences in coping with stress between women and men. In general, however, the abovementioned dichotomy regarding the existence of differences in the fact that women tend to use emotion-oriented coping and responses to stress such as "take care and make friends", while men tend to use problem-oriented coping and responses such as
"fight or run away" can be applied. This may be the result of the social norms encouraging men towards individualism, while women are often expected to excel in interpersonal relationships. An alternative explanation of the above differences includes genetic factors. The extent to which these factors and social conditions affect behavior is the subject of an ongoing debate (Washburn-Ormachea, Hillman & Sawilowsky 2004).
The following report is, therefore, aimed at detecting the possible differences in the perception and usage of the particular coping strategies by managers according to their gender.
Research
The aim of the presented research was to enrich the field of knowledge related to demanding, stressful situations and coping with these situations by managers. The presented contribution relates to the identification and specification of differences in the assessment of the selected coping strategies by male and female managers.
Research Sample
The research file consisted of 129 respondents, of which 55 were male (42.6%) and 74 were female (57.4%), aged between 19 and 54 years (M = 29 years, SD = 8.601 years). 103 managers (79.8%) were from the private economic sector and 26 managers (20.2%) were from the public sector.
Research Methods
Two methodologies were used to conduct the presented research. They are described in the following part of the paper.
CISS
The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations is a questionnaire by Endler and Parker (1990) for measuring multidimensional coping. The task for the respondents is to evaluate each of the 48
questionnaire items on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1) "Not at all" to (5) "Very much."
Respondents should also indicate to what extent they engage in these types of activities when they find themselves in a difficult, distressing or worrying situation. A multidimensional approach to assessment of coping with stressful situations provides great precision in prediction of the preferred coping strategies.
The original CISS defines three dimensions of stress management (coping):
1. Task-oriented = describes an intentional, task-centered efforts to address the problem by its cognitive restructuring or by trying to change the situation. The main focus is on tasks or planning and on attempts to solve the problem.
2. Emotion-oriented = describes emotional responses that are person-centered. The goal is to reduce stress (but this is not always successful). Reactions include emotional responses, excessive interest in oneself, and fantasizing. In some cases, a particular reaction actually increases stress. The reaction is person-centered.
3. Avoidance = describes activities and cognitive changes the aim of which is to avoid a stressful situation. This situation can occur by trying to distract oneself by means of other situations or tasks (task-centered) or by social distraction (person-centered) as a means of alleviating stress.
Based on our research, another dimension was revealed after the factor analysis on the presented sample of respondents. The fourth extracted factor was labeled as Social support, which represents coping aimed at finding support in others. It can be a search for a solution to the problem on the one hand, but also avoidance through social interaction on the other.
Brief COPE (bCOPE)
Brief COPE (bCOPE) is a shortened, 28-item version of the COPE questionnaire (Carver 1997). It was introduced to address the difficulties associated with responding to a large 60-question questionnaire.
Brief COPE contains the following 14 subscales (coping strategies): Religion (α = 0.82), Substance use (α = 0.90), Active coping (α = 0.68), Planning (α = 0.73), Positive reframing (α = 0.64), Acceptance (α = 0.57), Humor (α = 0.73), Use of emotional support (α = 0.71), Use of instrumental support (α = 0.64), Self-distraction (α = 0.71), Denial (α = 0.54), Venting (α = 0.50), Behavioral disengagement (α = 0.65) and Self-blame (α = 0.69). The task for the respondents is to evaluate each of the 28 questionnaire items on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from (1) "I haven't been doing this at all" to (4) "I've been doing this a lot."
Research Results
Differences in assessment of the coping strategies between the male and the female managers were analyzed by means of t-tests for two independent selections (in one case the Mann-Whitney U-test was used) in the statistical software SPSS 20. The acquired results confirmed the existence of statistically significant gender-related differences among managers in the assessment of the coping factors of the methodologies CISS and bCOPE (Tables 1a and 1b).
Table 1a: Assessment of the factors of CISS and bCOPE by male and female managers
CISS Gender M t - test p
Emotion-oriented Male manager 2.78
-1.970 .050
Female manager 2.99
Task-oriented Male manager 4.26
.570 .569
Female manager 4.36
Avoidance Male manager 3.27
-1.003 .317
Female manager 3.06
Social support Male manager 3.13
-2.983 .003
Female manager 3.61
bCOPE Gender M t – test p
Self-distraction Male manager 2.20
-2.266 .024
Table 1b: Assessment of the bCOPE factor Substance use by male and female managers
On the basis of the results obtained it may be claimed that in terms of the assessment of behavior in demanding situations of the male and the female managers, the male managers achieved higher scores than the female managers in the bCOPE factors Active coping, Substance use, and Humor. On the other hand, in the CISS methodology factors Emotion-oriented and Social support, higher scores were recorded by the female managers, as well as in the bCOPE factors Self-distraction, Denial, Use of emotional support, Use of instrumental support, and Religion. In the rest of the surveyed factors, no statistically significant differences were recorded.
Self-distraction
Female manager 2.49 -2.266 .024
Active coping Male manager 2.81
2.373 .018
Female manager 2.64
Denial Male manager 1.91
-1.987 .048
Female manager 2.07
Use of emotional support Male manager 2.31
-4.429 .000
Female manager 2.86
Use of instrumental support Male manager 2.35
-2.675 .008
Female manager 2.69
Behavioral disengagement Male manager 2.00
.503 .615
Female manager 1.96
Venting Male manager 2.27
-1.788 .075
Female manager 2.40
Positive reframing Male manager 2.70
-.194 .846
Female manager 2.71
Planning Male manager 2.97
.831 .407
Female manager 2.91
Humor Male manager 2.56
4.545 .000
Female manager 2.03
Acceptance Male manager 2.60
-.359 .720
Female manager 2.63
Religion Male manager 1.78
-3.090 .002
Female manager 2.09
Self-blame Male manager 2.48
-1.406 .161
Female manager 2.59
bCOPE Gender MDN Mann-Whitney
U Z p
Substance use Male manager 1.50
1498.00 -2.452 .014
Female manager 1.00
These results testify to the fact that the male managers have a greater tendency to cope with stress actively, or mitigate it by substance use or humor as opposed to the female managers, who tend to react to stress emotively. In solving the demanding situation, the female managers also tend to seek support among their social contact and in the spiritual area, or they tend to deny the given situation, trying to avert their attention from it by means of another activity.
Discussion
The obtained results confirmed the existence of statistically significant differences between the male and the female managers in assessing the coping factors of the CISS and bCOPE methodologies.
Based on a number of previous studies (e.g. Conway, Wood, Dugas & Pushkar 2003; Krajewski &
Goffin 2005, and others), differences in the styles of coping with demanding, stressful situations between men and women were found. Since men and women are seemingly exposed to different kinds of stress, they require different coping strategies. Krajewski and Goffin (2005) argue that men and women assess different situations on the basis of socialization, with women displaying less sense of personal control over their lives than men. Because of the lack of predictability and control, women may have less opportunities to successfully cope with stress.
On the basis of the results obtained, it is possible to state that regarding the assessment of the behavior of male and female managers in demanding situations, the male managers achieved higher scores than the female managers in the bCOPE factors of Active coping, Substance use (Mann- Whitney U-test result) and Humor. Part of these findings corresponds to the claims made by Lindquist, Beilin and Knuiman (1997) in their study. The authors found that men are more likely to use maladaptive stress coping strategies, such as alcohol consumption and unhealthy eating habits.
Degenhardt et al. (2008) have produced similar results confirming that work-related stress is strongly associated with a negative effort to manage it. In a stressful situation, men often seek ways to self-heal, turning to drugs, alcohol, and nicotine use. This explains the efforts of the male managers to actively cope with stress on the one hand, but to handle it in this negative way on the other.
Wilsnack et al. (2000) report the findings from the research on gender and drug use which have shown that men generally consume more alcohol than women and are more likely than women to use illicit drugs to cause problems in several areas of work as well as private life. Regarding the strategy of using humor to relieve stress, Abel (2002) sums up findings from several studies that have revealed stronger positive relationships between the number of daily problems and the cognitive stress assessment for those who have a high sense of humor, regardless of gender. On the other hand, Worell (2001) claims that humor can play a more important role in stress relief among women than men. The presented findings, however, reveal that male managers have a greater tendency to mitigate the stressful situation through humor than women, as well as a tendency to actively cope with stress or suppress it by using addictive substances.
In contrast to the male managers, the female managers achieved higher scores in the CISS factors Emotion-oriented and Social support, as well as in the bCOPE factors Self-distraction, Denial, Use of emotional support, Use of instrumental support, and Religion. The results of our analyses suggest that women tend to respond to stress emotionally, seeking help among their social contacts and in the spiritual sphere, or they deny the given situation, or try to divert their attention from it through another activity. Dobreva-Martinova (2002) argues that stress arises from the ambiguity of roles and leads to dissatisfaction with work. Individual coping skills, workplace leadership and social support contribute to alleviating this work-related stress. Tamres, Janicki and Helgeson (2002) found that women tend to use social support and help in finding the right behavior to cope with stress, which may be a protective factor against the occurrence of depression and anxiety disorders (Plaisier, de Bruijn, de Graaf, ten Have, Beekman & Penninx, 2007, Torkelson & Muhonen, 2004).
Some women are more able to handle stressful situations by self-distraction, passive, or avoidant coping, which can be an effective approach when one is not able to influence the event (Lazarus and Folkman 1984). Hobfoll and Leiberman (1987) noted that women with a high self-confidence were better at using social support when under stress, while those who lack self-confidence interpreted social support as an indication of personal inadequacy. Other available studies have shown that women often use different forms of religious and spiritual activities to solve serious personal problems (Ellison & Taylor 1996) or adversity (Mattis 2002). In another research, women were more likely than men to pray, eat, or speak with friends and family in order to cope with stress (Gentry et al., 2007).
Matheny, Ashby and Cupp (2005) also found that women use more adaptive coping strategies than men.
Matud (2004) conducted a similar research to the one presented in this contribution, studying gender differences in perception of stress and its management, but on a significantly larger sample of
respondents (2816 respondents, of which 1566 were women and 1250 were men). In this research, women scored significantly higher than men in emotional and avoidant stress coping styles and lower in rational styles and coping by distancing themselves from the problem. Men have been found to have more emotional barriers than women, with women suffering from stress more than men, their stresses being more emotion-oriented than those of men. In the presented study, no statistically significant differences were detected in the other CISS and bCOPE factors.
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion and the presented research, it could be concluded that the results support the necessity of accepting the possible gender specifics in the studies of coping with demanding, stressful situations, particularly in the area of management. At the same time they indicate the appropriateness of utilizing the CISS and bCOPE methodologies to detect the gender differences in the perception of coping by managers.
Acknowledgements
The contribution was created as part of the grant projects: VEGA 1/0909/16 (Research of determinants of decision-making in the business management and sales management, taking into account the personal and psychological aspects of trading, and analysis of the possible implications in neuromarketing) and KEGA 003PU-4/2017 (Coping with demanding situations – subject innovation and university textbook preparation).
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