A Man’s (Precarious) Place: Men’s Experienced Threat and Self-Assertive Reactions to Female Superiors

Across three studies,we investigate men’s reactions to women in superior roles. drawing from precarious manhood theory,we hypothesize that when a woman occupies a superior organizational role,men in subordinate positions experience threat,which leads them to behave more assertively toward her and advocate for themselves. in studies 1 and 2,we demonstrate that men feel more threatened (relative to women) by women in superior roles (relative to men in superior roles) and,as a result,engage in more assertive behaviors toward these women. in study 3,we investigate a boundary condition to this effect and demonstrate that a woman in a superior role who displays qualities associated with administrative agency (e.g.,directness,proactivity) rather than ambitious agency (e.g.,self-promotion,power-seeking) elicits less assertive behavior from men. we conclude by discussing implications as well as directions for future research. © 2015,© 2015 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.