Description
TitleStatus as a buffer to the consequences of backlash fear
Date Created2016
Other Date2016-10 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (vii, 102 p. : ill.)
DescriptionDespite advances toward equality, stereotypes still restrict the roles of individuals within society. Violation of these stereotypes results in backlash, in the form of social and financial penalties (Rudman, 1998), serving to discourage vanguards. Women specifically risk backlash for demonstrating agency, and in an effort to avoid this backlash, may mitigate their agentic expressions, compromising performance (Rudman, Moss-Racusin, Glick, & Phelan, 2012). The Backlash Avoidance Model (BAM; MossRacusin & Rudman, 2010) identifies low perceived entitlement as the mechanism through which backlash fear influences performance. Yet, with the rise of many prominent women in traditionally atypical domains, how do some women effectively express agency and attain success? I hypothesized that status—a perceived performance advantage (Fişek, Berger, & Norman, 2005)—protects women’s perceived entitlement, resulting in optimal performance on tasks requiring agency. This dissertation introduced the Modified-BAM (M-BAM), which incorporates the role of status in women’s backlash avoidance strategies to account for initial differences in perceived entitlement that allow some women to perform agentic tasks without disruption from fear of backlash. The study tested the outlined theory and the hypothesized M-BAM by manipulating women’s perception of status through a bogus aptitude measure. Although the M-BAM was not supported by the data, status did uniquely boost women’s interest to persevere in the relevant domain, suggesting that it does enhance self-efficacy. Larger implications of the results related to the advancement of vanguards in an array of atypical domains are discussed.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Sara K. Manuel
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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