Are men more selfish sponsors? Gender differences in workplace advocacy explained

In many competitive industries, sponsorship is often considered a key engine of professional advancement. A new study by the Rady School of Management of the UC San Diego reveals that men and women adopt distinctly different approaches from the sponsorship of the workplace – with men who often consider it a path to advance their own career, while women focus on the success of their protégés.

The study, published in the Journal of the Management Academyraises important questions on which approach provides the best results, how the work policies on sponsorship are designed and if women can do the burden more unfairly in efforts to build a more equitable workplace.

“Sponsors juggle several priorities, balancing their own professional interests with the needs of their protégés,” said Elizabeth L. Campbell, deputy management professor at UC San Diego Rady school and the main study.

“On the other hand, men tend to focus more on the way in which the sponsorship supply benefits their own career.

“This was particularly true for older men in their role – while men acquire experience as sponsors, they consider more and more sponsorship to their protégés as a means of advancing their own success.”

For women, however, their approach remains coherent – they keep the emphasis on their protégés, whatever their level of experience.

The study used several surveys and experiences in the industries of participants who have previous experience as managers. A survey of more than 800 participants from various industries asked questions about the objectives they would set for protégés and researchers found women tended to set more objectives focused on the success of protégés and male respondents had fewer objectives, compared to women, who tended to focus on their own success.

Campbell added: “The real question that it raises is: what is the best way to approach sponsorship? Ethically, we could say that focusing on the protégé is better, which align with the way women tend to sponsor. But at the same time, it is not unreasonable for sponsors to consider the way the sponsor also benefits.”

Career drivers: these are as much “who you know” that it is “what you know”

An additional experience of nearly 600 participants asked them to list up to 10 people they would contact for aid linked to sponsorship.

The results have shown that men tend to think of their social capital in a broad manner – the people with whom they do not interact often but which provide various information and opportunities. But when they balance their own objectives and priorities and helping their protégés, women relied on a dense network of close contacts that also know each other well.

“This difference in the activation of the network that our article finds raises another question: what approach is most likely to advance the career of the protégé?” Campbell noted.

“The long -standing conclusions of sociology say that large networks, that men activate, offer better access to information and new beneficial opportunities for protégés. But other work suggests that reflection on dense networks can promote stronger and more favorable relationships to protégés. In terms of sponsorship, this is an open question that research examines now.”

The results have major implications for policies in the workplace on sponsorship. Many companies encourage sponsorship to promote diversity and equity, but this new research suggests that the simple fact of asking leaders to “sponsor more” may not be sufficient.

If men and women approach sponsorship differently, so that men provide it so as to benefit to themselves and women, there is a risk that women can disproportionately support the responsibility of advancing the inclusion in the workplace.

“We might need to rethink the way we train the leaders to sponsor,” said Campbell. “Should we encourage everyone to sponsor more like men, thinking about how to sponsor protégés in a way that helps you too? Or should we put pressure on a more protected approach like women tend to use? It is a big question, and we are worth exploring more.”

She concluded that with sponsorship playing a crucial role in career mobility, these gender -based differences provide valuable information for employees and employers who seek to create more equitable and more efficient workplace advancement strategies.