The impact of gender differentiation on advancement in the South African audit industry

Abstract

The primary purpose of the research was to ascertain the generalisability of the 1974 Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to South African audit employees, regarding perceptions of socially desirable characteristics for males and females. The secondary purpose of this research was to demonstrate the use of the BSRI to assess to what extent stereotypical masculine and feminine personality traits impact on recruitment criteria used for selecting candidates for senior leadership positions in the South African audit industry. The researcher used a quantitative methodology in order to gather the appropriate data to support the research propositions. For proposition one, the researcher replicated the survey research design used in the original construction of the BSRI by Bem (1974) with a sample size of 100. For proposition two, the researcher used the BSRI with a panel of 20 audit firm recruiters to ascertain whether the feminine or masculine personality traits identified were more desirable when promoting people into senior leadership roles within a South African audit firm. The results of the research were as follows: all 40 items that Bem found to be significant per gender in 1974 were found to be of statistical significance in the current study. Some of Bem‘s (1974) gender neutral items were deemed to be more desirable in a female or a male in the South African audit industry. It was found that stereotypical male characteristics were not seen to be more desirable when promoting people into more senior leadership positions in the South African audit industry. The results of this research have revealed that employees in the South African audit industry do see males and females as having very different characteristics as per their gender, but it would seem that the personality characteristics most aligned with success at a South African audit firm are not masculine in nature, which was proposed by this research, but rather a mixture of both feminine and masculine characteristics.