Creatures of a lesser god! Gender-based differences in HR attributions mediated by person-job fit: a poly-contextual analysis

PurposeUsing social information processing and sense-making theory, the current study examines how the poly-contextual factors and social environment of employees provide unique cues and shape an employee’s person-job (PJ) fit perceptions in ways that enable males to perceive a better PJ fit than their female counterparts at work. These perceptions of PJ fit act as mediating processes between gender-based differences in HR commitment or HR control attributions. Design/methodology/approachAfter collecting two waves of data over a six-month period from a sample of 498 banking sector professionals in Pakistan, the hypothesized relationships were tested using hierarchical multiple regression. FindingsIt was found that gender (female) was positively related to HR control attributions and negatively related to PJ fit perceptions and HR commitment attributions. The mean differences between males and females concerning these study variables were significant. Also, PJ fit mediated the relationship between gender and HR attributions. Originality/valueThe study contributes to the advancement and understanding of the predictors of HR attributions by examining the poly-contextual factors that shape unique experiences, knowledge structures and social information processing, thus forming distinct PJ fit perceptions and subsequent HR commitment or control attributions for males and females.