The fair sex and unfair treatment in management of community-based organizations

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of gender on the organizational commitments of managers in community-based organizations. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 327 managers in community-based organizations were asked about their work attitudes. LISREL analysis was performed. The dependent variable was the intention to withdraw from the organization. The questionnaires were mailed to the sampled population. In all, 202 questionnaires were returned, representing a 62 percent response rate. Findings - Findings show that for women, job involvement was related to affective organizational commitment and to career commitment, but not to continuance organizational commitment. The current research offers an alternative path structure to that of Randall and Cote’s (1991) original model, which does not relate job involvement to continuance organizational commitment. As for men, the author found a significant relationship between job involvement, career commitment, and affective organizational commitment. Hence, men’s work attitudes in this study are consistent with those elicited in the original research model. Regarding the factors influencing withdrawal intentions among women, the author found that career commitment influenced the initial intention to withdraw from the organization and thinking of quitting. The author also found that affective organizational commitment influenced initial intention to withdraw, thinking of quitting, and search intentions. Among men, there was a significant relationship between job involvement, career commitment, and affective organizational commitment. Research limitations/implications - Future research should use multiple informants for assessing the model as well as a longitudinal design. Another potential avenue of research is to examine whether the findings hold true across professions and sectors. Practical implications - The findings are important for community-based organizations because they are not-for-profit organizations; therefore, the provision of good service to the community is based on managers’ high levels of commitment. In addition, results could assist managers in developing a policy to bolster adequate work attitudes by considering the differences between men and women, in order to retain high-quality workers in the organization. Social implications - The social contribution of this study derives from the demographic differences found between men and women, and according to the literature that supports the inclusion of different genders, cultures, and social groups in community-based organizations. Originality/value - The findings are important for community-based organizations because they are not-for-profit organizations and therefore good service to the community is based on high commitment of managers.