Men prefer women as bosses even more than women

A new study suggests that male workers appear to support women becoming CEOs even more than female workers do.

The study, co-authored by Michigan State University economist Susan Linz, found that both sexes actually report higher job satisfaction when they believe a woman has a chance of becoming chief executive of a company or organization.

"Promoting gender equality at the top has positive consequences for job satisfaction for both men and women," Linz said.

"So it's worth it for firms to create environments where women have opportunities to advance, as higher job satisfaction means higher productivity, higher revenues and a healthier bottom line," she said.

The study is one of the first to examine the link between job satisfaction and advance promotion opportunities at a time when more women worldwide are reaching the upper management ranks in spite of significant barriers.

In a surprising twist to the findings, men generally reported higher job satisfaction than women when it came to gender equality in the top job.

"We find little evidence that men dislike working for a woman or view women's advancement to upper-level positions as creating a more competitive work environment," Linz said.

Instead, she said men may view women's ascension to the top as an indicator of their own promotion opportunities.

"In other words, if they can do it, I can do it," she added.

For the study, Linz and Anastasia Semykina of Florida State University surveyed more than 6,500 workers from 700 employers in the socialist-turned-capitalist countries of Russia, Serbia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The study is published in the international research journal Kyklos.