The effects of gender role orientation and career/family role salience on organizational identification and intention to leave

The purpose of this study is to examine how gender role orientation (i.e. masculinity and femininity) and career/family role salience affect individuals’ organizational identification (OID) and intention to leave. Alternative models were developed to specify different relationships among the study variables.

Data were collected via a questionnaire survey of 362 employees from three large companies in China. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate alternative models and test the hypotheses.

This paper found that masculinity was positively related to career role salience, whereas femininity was positively related to family role salience. Career role salience, but not family role salience, was positively related to OID, which in turn was negatively related to intention to leave. A positive relationship was also found between femininity and OID, as well as between family role salience and intention to leave.

The cross-sectional nature of the data of this study precludes any definitive inferences about causality and directionality. The use of self-report measures also invites the potential threat of common method variance. The generalizability of results has been restricted, given that the respondents were drawn from three large companies.

Organizations may provide more resources and support for their employees so as to increase their career role salience, which in turn enhances their level of OID. For employees who are high in femininity, employers may offer family-friendly programs to help them address resource drain from family to work, and hence to retain them.

This study provided evidence for the linkage between gender role orientation with career/family role salience. It also revealed the impacts of career/family role salience on OID and intention to leave. Some gender differences in this regard were highlighted.