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The Impact of Organizational Culture on Attraction and Recruitment of Job Applicants

December 2010
Journal of Business and Psychology 25(4):649-662

DOI:10.1007/s10869-010-9179-0

Authors:

Diane Catanzaro

Christopher Newport University

Timothy R. Marshall

Christopher Newport University

Purpose This research examined how job pursuit and application decisions of male and female job applicants are impacted by beliefs about the organization’s culture. Design/Methodology/Approach Participants responded to questions regarding job pursuit intentions, organizational preference, and organizational choice for two hypothetical organizations, depicted in recruitment brochures as having either a competitive (“masculine”) or supportive (“feminine”) organizational culture in a 2 × 2 repeated measures design. Choosing the supportive culture required the trade-off of lower salary. Findings The results indicate that organizational culture interacts with gender to influence applicant attraction. Men were more likely than women to intend to pursue a job with the competitive organization; however, the majority of both men and women reported stronger interest in working for the supportive organization, even though salary would be lower. Implications This provides an empirical basis for organizational decision makers to integrate more supportive “feminine” values into the organizational culture and to highlight these values in recruitment literature. Perceived organizational culture plays a significant role in applicant decision making and both male and female applicants indicated a willingness to accept a lower salary in return for a supportive organizational culture. This has significance for organizations that seek to attract high quality applicants but whose direct compensation is lower than that offered by competitors. Originality/Value This is the first study to use an experimental design to manipulate organizational culture and salary trade-offs depicted in recruitment literature to examine the impact on applicant attraction.

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The Impact of Organizational Culture on Attraction

and Recruitment of Job Applicants

Diane Catanzaro •Heather Moore •

Timothy R. Marshall

Published online: 28 April 2010

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

Abstract

Purpose This research examined how job pursuit and

application decisions of male and female job applicants are

impacted by beliefs about the organization’s culture.

Design/Methodology/Approach Participants responded to

questions regarding job pursuit intentions, organizational

preference, and organizational choice for two hypothetical

organizations, depicted in recruitment brochures as having

either a competitive (‘‘masculine’’) or supportive (‘‘femi-

nine’’) organizational culture in a 2 92 repeated measures

design. Choosing the supportive culture required the trade-

off of lower salary.

Findings The results indicate that organizational culture

interacts with gender to inﬂuence applicant attraction. Men

were more likely than women to intend to pursue a job with

the competitive organization; however, the majority of

both men and women reported stronger interest in working

for the supportive organization, even though salary would

be lower.

Implications This provides an empirical basis for orga-

nizational decision makers to integrate more supportive

‘‘feminine’’ values into the organizational culture and to

highlight these values in recruitment literature. Perceived

organizational culture plays a signiﬁcant role in applicant

decision making and both male and female applicants

indicated a willingness to accept a lower salary in return for

a supportive organizational culture. This has signiﬁcance

for organizations that seek to attract high quality applicants

but whose direct compensation is lower than that offered

by competitors.

Originality/Value This is the ﬁrst study to use an exper-

imental design to manipulate organizational culture and

salary trade-offs depicted in recruitment literature to

examine the impact on applicant attraction.

Keywords Organizational culture Recruitment 

Sex roles Work-life balance Organizational attraction 

Salary

As the gender composition of the workforce changes there

is a need for research to address the role that organizational

culture plays in the attraction and recruitment process. This

research investigated the impact of perceived organiza-

tional culture on male and female potential applicants’

interest in pursuing and applying for a job. Do potential

applicants’ perceptions of organizational culture cause

them to self-select out of the recruitment and application

process? To what degree does an organization’s culture

attract or repel potential applicants? Will applicants trade

higher salary for greater work-life balance? This research

used an experimental design to assess these questions; the

results have implications for organizational decision mak-

ers trying to attract and retain a diverse and qualiﬁed

workforce.

Schein (1985) deﬁned organizational culture as the

beliefs, values, and basic assumptions that are shared by

organizational members. These cultural beliefs are deeply

ingrained and may differ greatly from the ‘‘espoused val-

ues’’ touted by organizational leaders (O’Reilly 1989).

With the continuing demographic shifts in the workforce

and the increasing number of dual-career families, there is

a need for organizations to reevaluate the values and

Received and reviewed by former editor, George Neuman.

D. Catanzaro (&)H. Moore T. R. Marshall

Department of Psychology, Christopher Newport University,

Newport News, VA 23606, USA

e-mail: catanzar@cnu.edu

123

J Bus Psychol (2010) 25:649–662

DOI 10.1007/s10869-010-9179-0

practices that deﬁne their organizational culture if they are

to succeed in attracting and retaining a talented, diverse

workforce (Thomas and Wise 1999).

National Culture and Organizational Culture

The concept of ‘culture’ exists at various levels, including

national culture and organizational culture. Hofstede (1980,

1998) describes masculine and feminine national cultures as

representing the sex role pattern that is dominant in a given

society, and further suggests the masculinity-femininity

dimension of a nation’s culture is reﬂected by organizations

within that culture. Masculine cultures, such as Japan and

Italy, emphasize the need for men to be successful bread-

winners or be viewed as failures, and relatively few women

occupy higher-paying executive and top management

positions. In Hofstede’s typology, American culture is

considered moderately high in masculinity.

In feminine cultures, such as Sweden and the Nether-

lands, it is the norm for both men and women to pursue

higher-paying careers, and both males and females receive

cultural support for prioritizing family time over time spent

on the job. The women in higher-level positions in these

cultures are not necessarily expected to be assertive or to

display the qualities and behaviors that are considered

traditionally masculine (Hofstede 1980). Lyness and Kropf

(2005) found that nations characterized as having feminine

cultures tend to have organizational cultures that support

work and family balance.

To reduce the gender connotations implicit in discussion

of masculine and feminine organizational cultures, the term

‘‘competitive’’ culture is used in this article to identify what

some researchers and theorists refer to as ‘‘masculine’’

organizational culture and the term ‘‘supportive’’ (Schein

1985) will refer to ‘‘feminine’’ organizational culture.

When referring to Hofstede’s work on national culture, the

masculine and feminine typologies will be preserved.

American organizations typically are characterized by a

competitive organizational culture, which aligns with our

‘‘masculine’’ national culture. This organizational culture

values respect for authority, competition, individualism,

independence, and task-orientation (Loden 1985; Maier

1999). Authoritarian management practices, respect for

hierarchical structures, and adherence to chain-of-com-

mand are emphasized. Other values associated with a

competitive organizational culture are assertive and

aggressive behavior toward external or internal competitors

and emphasis on individual, extrinsic rewards.

Supportive organizational cultures value and respect

participation, collaboration, egalitarianism, and inter-per-

sonal relationships (Maier 1999). There is less emphasis on

hierarchical control; the supportive organizational culture

focuses on group rather than individual rewards, and places

less emphasis on extrinsic rewards relative to intrinsic

rewards (Loden 1985). The cultural values associated with

a supportive culture promote a balance of career and family

roles, while competitive organizational cultures value

commitment to the organization and the expectation that an

employee’s career should be given priority over other roles

(Maier 1999).

As large numbers of women began to enter the U.S.

workforce in the late 1970s and 1980s, many women found

themselves at a disadvantage in pursuing higher-level

professional and executive positions because the dominant

culture in corporate America has a competitive ‘‘mascu-

line’’ orientation valuing competition, individualism, and

the prioritization of career over family (Rosener 1995;

Wilson 1998).

Wicks and Bradshaw’s (1999) research demonstrates

how gendered organizational cultures can make organiza-

tional change regarding diversity issues very difﬁcult to

accomplish. They found that women reported that the ideal

organizational culture as one that places signiﬁcant

emphasis on relationships, friendliness, acceptance, and

less authoritative relationships. They also found that men

and women are rewarded for behaviors that reﬂect cultural

values stereotypically associated with their sex. For

example, men reported being rewarded for less friendly

behaviors, while women reported being rewarded for being

more friendly and accepting of authority (Wicks and

Bradshaw 1999). These ﬁndings indicate that women

would be more likely to obtain rewards in the supportive

organization than in the competitive organization.

Organizational Attractiveness and Recruitment

Organizational attractiveness is an attitude or a general

positive affect that an individual has towards an organization

(Aiman-Smith et al. 2001). Attraction to an organization is a

key process within the attraction-selection-attrition cycle

(Schneider et al. 1995). The attraction process involves a job

seeker’s estimate of how well their personal needs and

values ﬁt the organization’s culture. Gaining an under-

standing of the factors that can impact the attraction phase of

this cycle is critical for organizations who wish to attract the

most qualiﬁed applicant pool possible. The best job candi-

dates are those who not only possess the necessary knowl-

edge, skills, and abilities, but whose personal values and

characteristics are compatible with the organizational

culture (McGinty and Reitsch 1992). Organizational culture

plays a key role in increasing the probability that applicants,

particularly female applicants, will accept a job with the

organization and inﬂuences how long they will remain with

the organization once hired (Schneider et al. 1995).

650 J Bus Psychol (2010) 25:649–662

123

The use of recruitment literature, whether through bro-

chures, websites, or other form of advertising, is one way

that organizations attract job seekers (Perkins et al. 2000).

Individuals seeking information about potential employers

develop beliefs about a company’s organizational culture

based on this material (Cable et al. 2000; Braddy et al.

2006). Braddy, Meade, and Kroustalis found that potential

applicants form clear impressions of an organization’s

cultural values including emphasis on rewards, aggres-

siveness (i.e. ‘‘competitive’’ values), diversity, suppor-

tiveness, and team-orientation based on recruitment

literature presented via website (Braddy et al. 2006).

Perceived person-organization ﬁt is important in orga-

nizational recruitment, socialization, and retention (Kristof

1996; O’Reilly et al. 1991) Research has found high levels

of person-organization ﬁt are positively related to norma-

tive organizational commitment and overall job satisfac-

tion, and negatively correlated with an employees’ intent to

leave an organization (O’Reilly et al. 1991).

Judge and Cable (1997) examined the relationship

between organizational culture preferences and individu-

als’ attraction to organizations, perceptions of person-

organization ﬁt, and job choice decisions, and found that

job-seekers are attracted to organizations that they perceive

have cultures that ﬁt their own values, needs, and

preferences.

Organizational Culture Preferences and Gender

Research has examined the types of organizational culture

environment preferred by men and women in managerial

positions. Van Vianen and Fischer (2002) found that

women managers had a weaker preference for competitive

organizational values compared to men, and that these

women had less ambition to pursue higher-level manage-

ment positions. This weaker intent to pursue these positions

was related to perceived work-home conﬂict. It is also

important to note that despite these gender differences, the

supportive organizational values were rated by both men

and women as being more favorable than the competitive

cultural values (Van Vianen and Fischer 2002).

Sex Roles and Organizational Culture

Gender Schema Theory

Bem’s (1981) gender schema theory refers to the devel-

opment of sex-linked categories for processing informa-

tion. From childhood, we learn what attributes are linked

to which sex and develop gender schemas regarding how

males and females should behave. Bem’s gender schema

theory is relevant to the current research because the

gender-schematic information processing of men and

women may lead to differences in the job pursuit inten-

tions and attraction they have towards different organi-

zations based on their cultures. Speciﬁcally, men may

view a competitive organizational culture as being con-

sistent with their socialization and values, while women

are likely to view a supportive organizational culture as

more desirable.

Social Role Theory and Sex-Role Socialization

Social role theory (Eagly, 1987, as cited in Carli and Eagly

1999) suggests that men and women adapt their behavior to

the social requirements for successful role performance.

Successful role performance involves acquiring and uti-

lizing skills associated with one’s gender role. The exis-

tence of sex-typical roles includes a division of labor where

men prioritize their occupational role, while women pri-

oritize domestic and family roles (Carli and Eagly 1999;

Jacobs 1999).

These gendered social roles inﬂuence occupational

expectations held by males and females. If the perceived

characteristics of an organization’s culture correspond to

an individual’s gender role expectations then he or she is

likely to be more attracted to that organization and perceive

a greater likelihood of person-environment ﬁt.

Ideally, an organization’s culture should reﬂect values

that will attract a diverse population of qualiﬁed job

applicants, because drawing from a larger applicant pool

allows the organization to be more selective in hiring. If

talented women (and men) choose not to apply to work in

an organization because they believe that the organiza-

tional culture is incongruent with their needs and values,

the organization loses the skills and talents that this pop-

ulation could contribute to its workforce.

Gender Differences in Balancing Work and Family

Occupational Expectations

There are many factors that inﬂuence men’s and women’s

organizational culture preferences and perceptions of

organizational attractiveness. One factor is differences in

occupational expectations. Looker and Magee (2000)

found that men and women differ with regard to occupa-

tional expectations; women tend to view themselves as

being primarily responsible for child care and running a

household. Organizational decision makers should be

aware that an organizational culture that is conducive to

work-family balance is one that is likely to be attractive to

J Bus Psychol (2010) 25:649–662 651

123

qualiﬁed women considering applying to a given organi-

zation, and appeals to many men as well.

Men and women differ in terms of expectations

regarding career paths and the importance of organizational

characteristics. Heckert et al. (2002) compared the expec-

tations of male and female college students regarding

future career paths, and found that women rated family

consideration higher than men did when anticipating their

careers. Women expected to leave the work force for a

longer period of time for childrearing than men, and men

expected to work more hours than women throughout their

careers. The family consideration facet included factors

such as the organization’s willingness to accommodate the

needs of parents and the availability of childcare beneﬁts.

Because women expect to leave the workforce for a period

of time to raise children, and because they often prefer to

work in a company that accommodates their role as a

parent, talented women who have choices about where to

work are expected to be more likely to choose organiza-

tions that support the integration of work and family as an

important aspect of organizational culture.

Work-Family Conﬂict

The traditional competitive organizational culture contin-

ues to characterize most organizations in the United States.

This is not conducive to creating an environment for bal-

ancing work and family roles. Speciﬁcally, there is a

gendered assumption that there should be a separation

between work and family. This type of division has

resulted in a greater level of value being placed on male

employees, since men are viewed as having the traditional

‘breadwinner’ status and are seen as less likely to need

accommodations for family or child care responsibilities

(Lewis 2001).

In a controversial article, Felice Schwartz (1989) sug-

gested that women cost more to hire than men because

the attitudes and behaviors of women are counter to the

practices and policies that characterize a traditionally

masculine organizational culture. She suggested that

organizations should not view women as being expensive

to hire, but should try to better understand how to invest in

the talent of those women. Schwartz proposed that orga-

nizations create a more conducive environment for high

performing women to balance career and family, through

ﬂexibility and family supportive practices. Although there

are costs inherent in creating this type of ﬂexibility, Sch-

wartz asserts that the beneﬁts of reduced turnover and

increased productivity could far outweigh the costs, and

that organizations will beneﬁt by retaining talented and

experienced women who will contribute to the proﬁtability

of the organization (Schwartz 1989). While Schwartz’

ideas have merit, there are many forms of inter-role conﬂict

that impact both men and women; a balance of career and

family roles is important to both sexes (Burke 2001; Powell

1999), particularly those in dual-career families (Wiley

1992).

Gonyea and Googins (1996) suggest that the work-

family issue is still on the periphery in many organizations.

Work-family programs are viewed as policies that only

apply to women who have children, and many organiza-

tions continue to ignore the fact that work-family issues

apply to any employees who desires a better quality of life

through a work-life balance. Hall (1990, as cited in Gonyea

and Googins 1996) suggests that work-family issues are a

representation of an organization’s corporate values and

argues that if organizations view family issues as a

‘‘parental problem’’ or ‘‘women’s problem’’ rather than a

‘‘corporate problem,’’ then they will, at best, only accom-

plish the appearance of being progressive. When an orga-

nization views work-family balance concerns as a

corporate problem that impacts organizational effective-

ness they are more likely to make organizational and

structural changes to address this issue (Hall, 1990, as cited

in Gonyea and Googins 1996).

Gonyea and Googins (1996) point out several negative

consequences that result from organizations viewing women

as the only beneﬁciaries of ‘‘family friendly’’ programs. This

view discriminates against women by inhibiting career

advancement and also discriminates against men who fear

being stigmatized if they openly express interest in having

more ﬂexible work hours to spend time with their family or

pursue non-work activities. Both women and men are con-

cerned that they will be viewed as being less committed,

which could negatively impact performance appraisals and

career advancement (Gonyea and Googins 1996).

The culture of an organization can inhibit or support the

development of a family-friendly policies and practices that

reduce work-family conﬂict (Burke 1997; Friedman 1990).

Burke (2001) found that women who reported working for

an organization that values work/family integration repor-

ted greater job satisfaction, decreased intentions to leave the

organization, increased family satisfaction, and a higher

level of emotional well-being. These results suggest that an

organizational culture that is supportive towards balancing

work and family may positively inﬂuence recruitment and

retention of both men and women.

In order for organizations to develop supportive cultural

values that promote a balance between career and personal

life, human resource professionals must convince organi-

zational leaders that this balance is a strategic tool that will

beneﬁt the organization (Gonyea and Googins 1996).

Research indicates that creating a work-family balance for

employees can inﬂuence attraction (Rau and Hyland 2002),

turnover (Schwartz 1989), and commitment (Grover and

Crooker 1995).

652 J Bus Psychol (2010) 25:649–662

123

To attract and retain the most qualiﬁed applicants, the

organizational culture should support employees’ ability to

achieve career success, but also their ability to succeed in

their roles as parents and care-givers. As discussed by

Schwartz (1989), the traditional competitive, masculine

culture of organizations in the United States does not

embrace the values necessary to allow for a healthy balance

between career and family. A corporate culture that

acknowledges employees’ identiﬁcation with non-work

roles can reduce role conﬂict (Ashforth and Mael 1989)

and enhance person-environment ﬁt.

Statement of Purpose and Hypotheses

This study extends previous research on organizational

culture by examining how perceived organizational culture

impacts the perceptions of organizational attractiveness

held by potential applicants. Organizational attractiveness

was measured through a job pursuit intentions measure, an

organizational preference measure, and an organizational

choice measure. In this study, the type of organizational

culture presented in two recruitment brochures was

manipulated to depict either a competitive, masculine

organizational culture or a supportive, feminine organiza-

tional culture.

The competitive organizational culture was operation-

alized as one that values competition, independence,

ambition, high ﬁnancial rewards, and a belief that one’s

career should be a priority. The supportive organizational

culture was operationalized as one that values collaboration,

inclusiveness, fewer ﬁnancial rewards, greater intrinsic

rewards, and an integration of both family and career roles.

Hypothesis 1 There will be an interaction between

organizational culture and participant sex for job pursuit

intention; men will be signiﬁcantly more likely than

women to show stronger intention to pursue a job in the

competitive organizational culture, while women will be

signiﬁcantly more likely than men to show greater inten-

tions to pursue a position in the supportive organizational

culture.

Hypothesis 2 There will be an interaction between

organizational culture and participant sex for organiza-

tional preference; men will be signiﬁcantly more likely

than women to show preference for the competitive orga-

nizational culture, while women will be signiﬁcantly more

likely than men to show preference for the supportive

organizational culture.

Hypothesis 3 There will be an interaction between

organizational culture and participant sex for organiza-

tional choice; men will be signiﬁcantly more likely than

women to choose to work in the competitive organizational

culture, while women will be signiﬁcantly more likely than

men to choose to work in the supportive organizational

culture.

Method

Participants

Participants were 256 undergraduate students (109 men and

147 women) from a liberal arts university in southeastern

Virginia. Student volunteers were solicited from classes in

the Business school and the departments of Psychology,

Government, and English. Participants were informed that

they would be entered into a drawing to win $25.00 if they

volunteered to participate, and that their responses would

be anonymous.

A demographic questionnaire indicated that 109 partic-

ipants were men and 147 were women. The sample con-

sisted of 131 seniors, 79 juniors, 39 sophomores, and 7

freshmen. The students reported eighteen different majors;

the most frequent majors were business (31%), political

science (20%), psychology (7%), and government (7%).

The average GPA for the sample was 2.98. Twenty par-

ticipants reported they had at least one child. Students were

told that the research study involved reviewing recruitment

brochures for two companies that hired many new college

graduates.

Materials and Measures

Materials included an informed consent form, a prize entry

form, two organizational recruitment brochures, and three

scales used to assess applicant attraction (see Appendix).

Other materials were a demographic questionnaire and a

debrieﬁng statement.

Organizational Recruitment Brochures

Two recruitment brochures were developed for this study.

One bank’s brochure depicted a high-demand, high-reward

culture through terms and phrases such as ‘‘fast track,’’

‘‘competitive environment,’’ ‘‘work individually and

aggressively to achieve your career goals,’’ ‘‘allow your

ambition to shine above the rest,’’ and ‘‘work extremely

hard and receive high ﬁnancial rewards.’’ The other bank’s

brochure described a supportive culture thorough terms and

phrases such as ‘‘nurturing environment,’’ ‘‘values the

collaboration among all employees,’’ ‘‘recognizes there is

more to life than just money by providing intrinsic

rewards….like satisfaction with your job,’’ ‘‘it is important

to balance both work and family roles.’’ Other than the

J Bus Psychol (2010) 25:649–662 653

123

manipulation described above, the brochures contained the

same information. Different colors, font, and layouts were

used and the order of some non-essential details were

varied, so the brochures did not appear identical to allow

for the repeated-measures manipulation to not be obvious

to participants. A pilot study conducted with six male and

six female participants used a manipulation check to

determine that the two depictions of the organizational

cultures were clearly distinguishable.

Job Pursuit Intention Scale

The JPI scale was used to measure the job pursuit inten-

tions of the participants regarding the two organizations

depicted in the recruitment literature. The JPI was adapted

from Aiman-Smith, Bauer, and Cable’s measure (2001).

The scale contained six questions with a Likert-type scale

ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly disagree).

The coefﬁcient alpha for this measure is .91. Scores were

calculated by averaging the ratings for the six items.

Organization Preference Scale

Participant preference for the values that represented a

competitive (‘‘masculine’’) or supportive (‘‘feminine’’)

organizational culture was measured using the Organiza-

tional Preference (OP) scale, which consists of 10 ques-

tions with a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly

disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The coefﬁcient alpha for the

competitive subscale was .76. The coefﬁcient alpha for the

supportive subscale was .70.

Organizational Choice Scale

The Organizational Choice scale measured the probability

that a participant would choose to work at one organization

over the other. The measure contained 6 options designed

to allow each participant to indicate their probability of

choosing one organization over the other. The Organiza-

tional Choice scale also included a forced choice question

that asked each participant to choose which organization

they would prefer to work for, and an open-ended follow-

up to indicate why.

Procedure

Participants were told that they would be evaluating

recruitment literature for organizations that frequently

hired new college graduates and that they would be asked

questions about the literature. The participants were given

manila folders that included copies of realistic-looking

recruitment brochures for two banking institutions. The

three scales used to measure the dependent variables and

the demographic survey were also in the folder. The order

of presentation of the brochures was counterbalanced to

reduce possible order effects. After reading each individual

brochure, each participant immediately completed the Job

Pursuit Intentions scale. After both brochures were read

and the JPI measure was completed for each, the partici-

pants ﬁlled out the Organizational Preference scale and the

Organizational Choice scale. The participants then com-

pleted a demographic survey. Finally, each participant

received a debrieﬁng statement.

Experimental Design

A292 repeated measures experimental design was used;

one independent variable was the type of organizational

culture presented in the recruitment brochure (competitive-

masculine vs. supportive-feminine) and a second, non-

manipulated variable was participant sex. The dependent

variables were job pursuit intention, organizational pref-

erence, and organizational choice. The data was analyzed

using a repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance

(MANOVA).

Results

Descriptive Statistics and Assumptions

Descriptive statistics were run for all dependent variables.

Skewness and kurtosis values for all three dependent

variables were less than 5, indicating that the data was

normally distributed. A non-signiﬁcant Box’s MTest

indicated that the covariance matrix for the dependent

variable of job pursuit intentions was homogeneous

(*p[.05). A non-signiﬁcant Box’s MTest indicated the

covariance matrix for the dependent variable of organiza-

tional preference was homogeneous (*p[.05).

Hypothesis One

The results partially support Hypothesis 1 which stated

there would be an interaction between organizational cul-

ture and sex on job pursuit intentions, such that men would

be signiﬁcantly more likely than women to show greater

intentions to pursue a job in the competitive organizational

culture, while women would be signiﬁcantly more likely

than men to show greater intentions to pursue a position in

the supportive organizational culture.

A repeated measures MANOVA examined this

hypothesis; the independent variables were culture and sex,

and the dependent variable was job pursuit intentions. The

Wilks’ K=.967, F(1, 254) =8.758, **p\.01 multivar-

iate test indicated an interaction occurred between

654 J Bus Psychol (2010) 25:649–662

123

organizational culture and sex on job pursuit intentions.

With regard to the signiﬁcant interaction, the observed

power of the test indicated that 84% of the variance was

captured and unlikely to be due to chance.

The post-hoc analyses indicated that the interaction

between organizational culture and sex on job pursuit

intentions was due to signiﬁcant differences between the

job pursuit intentions of men (M =5.02, SD =.126) and

women (M =5.56, SD =.109) for the supportive orga-

nizational culture F(1, 254) =10.723, ***p=.001. Spe-

ciﬁcally, women were signiﬁcantly more likely than men to

report higher job pursuit intentions toward the organization

with the supportive culture. A signiﬁcant difference was

not found between men (M =4.60, SD =.143) and

women (M =4.53, SD =.123) for the competitive orga-

nizational culture F(1, 254) =.158, *p[.05. For a sum-

mary of these results, see Table 1.

The Wilks’ K=.841, F(1, 254) =47.88, ***p\.001

multivariate test indicated a main effect for type of orga-

nizational culture. Post hoc analyses indicate that both

male and female participants reported greater intentions to

pursue a job in the supportive organizational culture

(M =5.29, SD =.083) compared to the competitive

organizational culture (M =4.56, SD =.095). Post hoc

analyses found no main effect for sex independent of

organizational culture. In other words, men (M =4.81,

SD =.109) and women (M =5.05, SD =.094) were not

signiﬁcantly different in terms of their overall job pursuit

intention scores F(1, 254) =2.66, *p[.05.

Hypothesis Two

These results fully support Hypothesis 2, which stated

there would be an interaction between organizational

culture and gender on organizational preference, such that

men would be signiﬁcantly more likely than women to

prefer the competitive culture, while women would be

signiﬁcantly more likely than men to prefer the supportive

culture.

A repeated measures MANOVA, with the independent

variables of culture and sex, and the dependent variable of

organizational preference, found Wilks’ K=.956, F(1,

254) =11.78, ***p=.001. The observed power of the

test indicates that 92% of the variance was captured and

unlikely to be due to chance.

Post-hoc analyses indicated that the signiﬁcant interac-

tion between organizational culture and sex on organization

preference was due to signiﬁcant differences between the

organizational preferences held by men (M =4.25,

SD =.110) and women (M =3.83, SD =.095) for the

competitive organizational culture F(1, 254) =8.19,

*p\.05, as well as signiﬁcant differences between men

(M =5.14, SD =.086) and women (M =5.47, SD =

.074) for the supportive organizational culture F(1, 254) =

8.77, *p\.05. For a summary of these results, see Table 2.

The Wilks’ K=.655, F(1, 254) =133.65, ***p\.001

multivariate test indicated there was a signiﬁcant main

effect for organizational culture on organizational prefer-

ence. Post-hoc analyses indicated that participants of both

sexes were signiﬁcantly more likely to prefer the supportive

organizational culture (M =5.31, SD =.057) over than

the competitive organizational culture (M =4.04, SD =

.073). Post-hoc analyses found no main effect for sex

independent of organizational culture; F(1, 254) =.304,

*p[.05. This meant that the men (M =4.69, SD =.054)

and women (M =4.65, SD =.046) were not signiﬁcantly

different in terms of their overall organizational preference

scores.

Hypothesis Three

The third hypothesis was that there would be an interaction

between organizational culture and sex for organizational

choice, such that men would be signiﬁcantly more likely

than women to choose to work in the competitive organi-

zational culture, while women would be signiﬁcantly more

Table 1 Mean results for job pursuit intentions

Culture Men Women Fvalue pValue

Mean SD Mean SD

Competitive 4.60 .143 4.53 .123 .158 *p[.05

Supportive 5.02 .126 5.56 .109 10.723 ***p=.001

The maximum mean is 7.00

Table 2 Mean results for organizational preference

Culture Men Women Fvalue pValue

Mean SD Mean SD

Competitive 4.25 .110 3.83 .095 8.19 *p\.05

Supportive 5.14 .086 5.47 .074 8.77 *p\.05

The maximum mean is 7.00

Table 3 Mean results for organizational choice

Sex Mean SD tvalue pValue

Men 3.78 1.14 -3.59 ***p=.001

Women 4.29 1.24

A mean between 1.00 and 3.99 represent a preference for the

competitive organizational culture, while a mean between 4.00 and

6.00 represent a preference for the supportive organizational culture

J Bus Psychol (2010) 25:649–662 655

123

likely than men to choose to work in the supportive orga-

nizational culture.

An independent samples t-test found a signiﬁcant dif-

ference between the organizational choice of men (M =

3.78, SD =1.14) and women (M =4.29, SD =1.24);

men were signiﬁcantly more likely than women to choose

the competitive culture, while the women were signiﬁ-

cantly more likely than men to choose the supportive cul-

ture t(254) =-3.59, ***p=.001. For a summary of these

results, see Table 3.

Qualitative Findings

Which organization would you choose to work for? The

open-ended question asked participants, based on their

review of the two recruitment brochures, which organiza-

tion they would prefer to work for and why.

Of the 256 participants, 175 chose the supportive

organization and 81 chose the competitive organization.

There were 109 men in the sample; 66 (60.5%) chose the

supportive organization and 43 (39.4%) chose the com-

petitive organization. There were 147 women in the sam-

ple; 109 (74.1%) chose the supportive organization and 38

(25.8%) chose the competitive organization. A chi-squared

analysis indicated a signiﬁcant difference in the between

men and women in the number who chose the supportive

organization over the competitive one v

(1, N=256) =

5.35, *p\.05.

Why would you prefer to work for this organization? In

the overall sample of participants, 205 of the 256 partici-

pants explained why they chose the organization they did.

Regardless of sex, the reasons stated most frequently for

why the supportive organization was chosen were the fol-

lowing: ‘‘it allowed for a family and work balance’’

(n=68); ‘‘it does not require sacriﬁcing my personal life’’

(n=43), ‘‘I like collaboration and teamwork’’ (n=39);

and ‘‘this company seems more supportive and friendly

towards employees’’ (n=29). In the overall sample,

regardless of sex, the reasons stated most frequently for why

the competitive organization were chosen was the follow-

ing: ‘‘I like the money factor’’ (n=21), ‘‘the opportunity

for advancement’’ (n=13); ‘‘family is not an issue for me

right now’’ (n=10); ‘‘the focus on hard-work and success’’

(n=10); and ‘‘I like the competition’’ (n=9).

In this sample of 205 who responded to this question,

120 were women and 85 were men.

The reasons given most frequently by women who chose

the supportive organization were as follows: ‘‘it allowed

for a family and work balance’’ (n=46); ‘‘it does not

require sacriﬁcing my personal life’’ (n=23); ‘‘this

company seems more supportive and friendly towards

employees’’ (n=21); and ‘‘I like collaboration and

teamwork’’ (n=21).

The reasons given most frequently by the women who

chose the competitive organization were as follows: ‘‘I like

the money factor’’ (n=8); ‘‘the opportunity for advance-

ment’’ (n=7); ‘‘family is not an issue for me right now’’

(n=5); and ‘‘I like the competition’’ (n=5).

The reasons given most frequently by the men who

chose the supportive organization were as follows: ‘‘it

allowed for a family and work balance’’ (n=21); ‘‘it does

not require sacriﬁcing my personal life’’ (n=20); and ‘‘I

like collaboration and teamwork’’ (n=16); ‘‘money is not

everything’’ (n=8); and ‘‘this company seems more

supportive and friendly towards employees’’ (n=8).

The reasons given most frequently by the men who chose

the competitive organization were as follows: ‘‘I like the

money factor’’ (n=13); ‘‘the focus on hard work and suc-

cess’’ (n=7); ‘‘the opportunity for advancement’’ (n=6);

and ‘‘family is not an issue for me right now’’ (n=5).

Discussion

The current study examined the effects of perceived

organizational culture on the organizational attractiveness

perceptions held by male and female college students. It

was proposed that for all three measures of organizational

attractiveness (job pursuit intentions, organizational pref-

erence, and organizational choice) there would be a sig-

niﬁcant interaction between organizational culture and sex,

and that men would be more likely than women to pursue,

prefer, and choose the competitive organizational culture,

while women would be more likely than men to pursue,

prefer, and choose the supportive organizational culture.

Partial support was found for the ﬁrst hypothesis; men

were expected to be more likely than women to show

greater job pursuit intentions towards the competitive

organizational culture, while women were expected to be

more likely than men to show greater intentions to pursue

the supportive organizational culture.

This hypothesis was only partially supported because

the interaction only occurred for the supportive organiza-

tional culture. Women reported stronger intention to pursue

the supportive organizational culture than did men, how-

ever the men did not show greater intentions to pursue the

competitive organizational culture than women. It is

interesting that both male and female participants reported

stronger intention to pursue the job in the supportive

organization. These results are consistent with previous

research that found that both male and female managers

preferred supportive, feminine organizational values over

competitive, masculine values (Van Vianen and Fischer

2002).

In the current study, men were found to be more likely

than women to show greater organizational preference for

656 J Bus Psychol (2010) 25:649–662

123

the competitive organizational culture, while women were

found to be more likely than men to have greater prefer-

ence for the supportive organizational culture. This sup-

ports the second hypothesis. However, the overall sample,

regardless of sex, had stronger organizational preferences

for the supportive organizational culture. These results are

similar to those found by Van Vianen and Fischer (2002),

who found that women had a weaker preference for mas-

culine organizational values than did men, related to per-

ceived work-family conﬂict.

Having a preference for the competitive organizational

culture meant preferring the opportunity for high salary and

career advancement even though that meant sacriﬁcing

one’s personal life, desire to be a ‘‘winner’’ and outperform

peers, competing for rewards, and working independently.

Having a preference for the supportive organizational

culture meant preferring a balance between work and

family life, the desire to have a life outside of one’s career,

being supportive to colleagues, working together for

rewards, and collaborating with other employees, with the

trade-off of a lower salary. The preference measure was

developed so that participants would have to weigh their

preference for one value over another. For example, to

show preference for one organizational culture over the

other the participant was asked to indicate their agreement

with the following statement: ‘‘I would prefer to work in an

organization that would allow me to balance my work and

family life, even it meant earning a lower salary.’’ The

results indicate that men are more likely than women to

prefer the competitive organization, but that overall the

men also preferred the supportive culture over the com-

petitive one.

Because men and women are socialized to internalize

sex-linked values and preferences, gender schema theory

(Bem 1981) provides a basis for understanding why men

and women often have different organizational preferences.

Speciﬁcally, many men view a competitive organizational

culture as being consistent with the male ‘‘breadwinner’’

sex role, while many women view a supportive organiza-

tional culture as more likely to allow them to fulﬁll aspects

of the female ‘‘caretaker’’ sex role.

The results also indicate that men and women differ

with regard to the choice of which organization they would

prefer to work for, consistent with the third hypothesis.

Men were more likely than women to choose the com-

petitive organizational culture, while women were more

likely than men to choose the supportive organizational

culture. These results correspond with the ﬁndings for the

organizational preference outcomes; men and women tend

to choose the organization that is characterized by the

values that are most important to them.

Understanding of these results is enhanced through

examining the forced choice and qualitative responses

given by the participants. Most participants chose the

supportive organization, which is consistent with the job

pursuit intentions and organizational preference results.

These results did, however, differ from ﬁndings on the

Organizational Choice measure, which found that men had

a greater probability of choosing the competitive organi-

zational culture, while women had a greater probability of

choosing the supportive organizational culture.

These differences may have occurred because the

organizational choice measure asked each participant to

indicate their probability of choosing one organization over

the other, which allowed participants to indicate the

strength of their choice, while the forced-choice question

required each participant to make a forced-choice of one

organization over the other. It may be that within the

sample of men, there are men that could work in an

organization characterized by competitive or supportive

values, but there is also a subset of men who would pursue

and prefer to work in a supportive organization compared

to a competitive one. These results are helpful in explain-

ing the overall job pursuit intentions and preference found

for the supportive organization, regardless of sex.

For the men and women who chose the supportive

organization, the most frequently stated reason was that the

supportive organizational culture would allow for a balance

between work and family and did not require a sacriﬁce to

one’s personal life, and the perception that this company

was more friendly and supportive of its employees. For the

men and women who chose the competitive organization,

the most frequently stated reasons were the ability to make

money and the opportunity for advancement. These results

suggest that the beneﬁt of being able to balance one’s

family with a career and maintain a personal life are

important inﬂuences on the application decisions made by

many men and women.

Future Implications

These results can be applied to improve the recruitment of

new employees into the organization. For organizations

hoping to attract a larger pool of qualiﬁed applicants, the

results suggest that it is advantageous to highlight sup-

portive organizational cultural values; however, those

values should only be advertised if they are actually

representative of the values that truly exist within the

organization. Organizations should examine their organi-

zational cultures to determine if the culture is limiting the

attractiveness of their organization to talented men and

women who seek a balance of work and non-work.

Both men and women reported stronger job pursuit

intentions and preferences towards the supportive organi-

zational culture, even thought the salary would be lower.

This suggests that many organizations could beneﬁt by

J Bus Psychol (2010) 25:649–662 657

123

integrating more supportive values into their culture. This

beneﬁt would come through enhanced ability to attract top

talent during recruitment, and increased retention of

employees who need or desire to maintain a work-life

balance. These results suggest that despite the fact that

many organizations require employees to sacriﬁce family

and quality of life to attain high rewards, many individuals

would sacriﬁce some level of reward to work in a more

supportive and ﬂexible environment.

Although this research did not study retention, these

supportive vs. competitive values would be expected to

inﬂuence post-hire outcomes such as retention, organiza-

tional commitment, and job satisfaction. If new employees

have a preference for supportive organizational values, but

the organizational culture is competitive, high turnover and

low job satisfaction are expected to result from this lack of

person-environment ﬁt.

The qualitative data suggests that organizations should

be aware that organizational culture facilitates or impedes

work-family balance for both men and women, and that

being able to balance family, career, and personal life are

issues that are very relevant to both the men and women

who participated in this study.

Overall, the results of this study provide an empirical and

rational basis for why organizational decision makers should

recognize the importance of integrating more supportive

‘‘feminine’’ values into their organizational culture. If

organizations hope to compete for human resources, they

must understand how the cultural values of the organization

impact recruitment. By attracting more applicants during the

recruitment process the organization can be more selective,

thus improving the quality of those hired. By implementing

the values that allow for a more supportive organizational

culture, organizations will be better able to attract applicants

of both sexes. By allowing employees to maintain a balance

between career and family needs, organizations may ﬁnd

that many women who would have chosen to drop out of the

workforce or leave their careers due to family responsibili-

ties may remain with the organization, allowing the orga-

nization to keep the experienced talent in which they have

invested. The results also demonstrate that many men would

prefer to be employed in an organization that is character-

ized by a supportive organizational culture, and would be

willing to trade off some degree of pay and advancement in

return for the beneﬁts provided by work-life balance.

Overall, by creating an organizational culture that focuses

on collaboration, teamwork, and balancing one’s career and

family, organizations can maintain a competitive edge in

recruiting, attracting, and retaining a diverse sample of

highly-qualiﬁed job candidates.

Appendix

Job Pursuit Intentions Scale (Adapted from Aiman-Smith et al. 2001)

Directions: Based on the company brochure you just read, please respond to these following statements. Please indicate

your agreement with each item by circling one answer for each question.

1. I would accept a job offer from this company after graduating.