Intuition, women managers and gendered stereotypes

Gender‐centred perspectives of women managers and women in general characterise them as being more intuitive than male managers and men in general. Evidence for gender differences in cognitive style was sought by administering the Cognitive Style Index, a measure of intuition analysis, to three UK samples of managers and three UK samples of non‐managers. Results indicate that there is no difference between female and male managers in terms of intuitive orientation, that female non‐managers are more analytical (less intuitive) than male non‐managers and more analytical than female managers. This lack of support for stereotypic characterisation of women managers and women in general as being more intuitive than their male equivalents is discussed within the context of structural and gendered cultural perspectives on behaviour in organisations.