When you’re getting grilled by your boss, or being turned down for a hard-earned promotion or raise, it can be a tempting solution to blame their personality, their temperament or even their background.
But new research suggests a clearer decider between a ‘nice boss’ and a ‘mean boss’ is something else entirely.
The research, completed by professors at the University of Miami and the China Europe International Business School, reveals that bosses who have daughters are more likely to be more sympathetic and just plain ‘nicer’.
The survey, completed over more than 400 CEOs of US companies (with a total of more than 1,000 children between them), shows that CEOs who have daughters are more socially conscious and are more likely to be receptive to employee issues such as flexible work hours, maternity and paternity leave, providing childcare, profit sharing, pay rises and even diversity in employment.
“Having a daughter seems to make the top executives of publicly traded companies in the U.S. a bit softer, specifically in context of social responsibility,” said co-author Henrik Cronqvist, a professor at University of Miami’s business school, “They seem to care more about others than just shareholders. Having a daughter seems to push the executives to care more about other stakeholders.”
This effect on corporate social responsibility (CSR), called the ‘Daughter Effect’, is amplified even further when the daughter in the first born of the family, and is thought to be caused by the fact that women “attach more weight to the well-being of others” than men.
Earlier research done into US congressmen and judges revealed that the two professions tend to vote and judge more liberally – in a social sense – if they have daughters, especially in issues relating to women’s rights and reproductive rights.
So the next time you’re surfing for a new job, there might be a new factor to consider!
