The relationship between gender, decision-making styles and measures of career success

Vještina uspješnog odlučivanja u privatnom i poslovnom životu je poželjna vještina koju bi svaki pojedinac trebao posjedovati. Spoznaje o individualnim razlikama u odlučivanju mogle bi biti korisne za poslodavce te nadopuniti selekcijski proces, ali i osigurati ostanak zaposlenika u organizaciji. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost stilova odlučivanja sa zadovoljstvom karijerom i vjerojatnosti napredovanja na poslu, te provjeriti postoji li razlika s obzirom na rod u navedenim povezanostima. Na uzorku od 218 zaposlenih osoba provedeno je istraživanje u kojem su korištene sljedeće mjere: General Decision Making Style (GDMS) upitnik stilova odlučivanja (Scott i Bruce, 1995) koji procjenjuje pet stilova odlučivanja: racionalni, intuitivni, ovisni, izbjegavajući i spontani; ljestvica procjena vjerojatnosti napredovanja na poslu (Thacker i Wayne, 1997) te ljestvica za samoprocjenu zadovoljstva karijerom (Greenhouse i sur., 1990). Rezultati ukazuju na pozitivnu povezanost racionalnog stila odlučivanja i procjene vjerojatnosti napredovanja, no dobivena je povezanost značajna samo kod žena. Pozitivna povezanost racionalnog stila odlučivanja i zadovoljstva karijerom dobivena je samo u uzorku žena. Također je dobivena negativna povezanost izbjegavajućeg i spontanog stila odlučivanja sa zadovoljstvom karijerom. Za ostale stilove odlučivanja ne postoji značajna povezanost s vjerojatnosti napredovanja, ni sa zadovoljstvom karijerom te ne postoji razlika između muškaraca i žena u navedenim povezanostima.The skill of successful decision-making, whether in private or business life, is a desirable skill that every individual should possess. Knowledge of individual differences in decision-making could be useful for employers for complementing the selection process, but also to reduce employee turnover. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between decision-making styles and career satisfaction and promotability, also to check if there is a difference regarding gender on these relationships. A sample of 218 employees took part in a survey using the following measures: General Decision Making Style (GDMS) decision-making style questionnaire (Scott and Bruce, 1995) which evaluates five decision making styles: racional, intuitive, dependent, avoidantand spontaneous; Promotability scale (Thacker and Wayne, 1997) and the Career Satisfaction Scale (Greenhouse et al., 1990). The results indicate a positive correlation between the rational decision-making style and the promotability, but it was only significant within female participants. The positive correlation between rational decision-making style and career satisfaction was obtained only with women. There is a significant negative relationship between avoidant and spontaneous decision-making style and career satisfaction. For other decision-making styles, there is no significant correlation with neither the assessment of promotability or self-assessment of career satisfaction and there is no difference regarding gender on these relationships