RESPONDENTS GENDER DIFFERENCES AND DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS - BELIEFS AS AN ANTECEDENT VARIABLE IN RESEARCH ON ATTRIBUTION

To test the assumption that men and women exhibit comparable beliefs r egarding the effect of available disciplinary actions when attribution al stimuli are minimized undergraduates were asked to assume the role of a supervisor and record their beliefs regarding the influence of 12 separate discipline actions on a subordinate whose performance had be en evaluated as unsatisfactory. The potential for attributional stimul i was reduced by providing participants no information regarding the c ause of the unsatisfactory performance or the gender of the subordinat e. One-way multivariate analysis of variance of ratings on a 9-point s cale by 47 female and 51 male undergraduates showed no differences bet ween their beliefs about the effect of the separate disciplinary actio ns. Different beliefs as an antecedent variable in research on attribu tions was not supported and training may be an option to reduce differ ences in the disciplinary decisions ascribed to gender and the attribu tional process.