A Survey of Gender-Related Motivation Studies: Subordinate Status, Roles, and Stereotyping

Since the days when women first began entering the work force scholars have studied perceived gender differences related to motivation in organizational settings. This paper first presents a brief overview of motivation theory and then examines the literature tracing gender related motivation-to-manage as it evolves through the 1950s and 1960s to the present. Studies have produced conflicting results with some finding that men have more motivation-to-manage then women and other studies finding the opposite. Such differences appear to be small and closely related to subordinate status and role stereotyping.