Influence of Sex Role Stereotypes on Personnel Decisions of Black Managers

The influence of sex role stereotypes on the hiring decisions of Black managers was investigated. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyze the relationship between sex of respondent, sex of applicant, and job sex type. Respondents were 131 managers who rated either a Black man or a Black women for a stereotypically female- or male-sex-typed job on a Likert-type scale. There were significant findings on 3 of the 7 dependent variables-potential to work, potential to complete tasks, and technical potential-on which men were rated more favorably for the male-sex-typed job and women were rated more favorably for the female-sex-typed job. However, sex stereotyping was more pronounced for the female-sex-stereotyped job than for the male-sex-stereotyped job on some dependent variables. Results are discussed in regard to the unique experiences of Black men and women in American society.