INTERROGATING GENDERED STEREOTYPES AND JOB SATISFACTION IN THE PROFESSIONAL ARENA

Abstract

Gender inequality is a prominent phenomenon that connotes amongst others unconscious bias, under-representation of women by men in every sphere of life including the professional arena. The accounting profession is a stable and growing arena that offers strong earning potentials that demand high level of integrity, accuracy and continuous on-the-job learning to its members. Studies have shown that female accountants are less satisfied with their job and also do not often attain higher organizational positions as hoped. This paper seeks to examine the job satisfaction of women accountants using twelve (12) job satisfaction indices. And also, if the female or male accountants are better promoters of the accounting profession using the employee net promoter score (eNPS). The study employed survey research design. The target population of study consists of chartered accountants registered with The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design through the administration of questionnaire. The findings of the study revealed a negative relationship between gender stereotypes and job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that the negative effect of gender stereotypes of women professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria be curtailed.

Headnote

Abstract

Gender inequality is a prominent phenomenon that connotes amongst others unconscious bias, under-representation of women by men in every sphere of life including the professional arena. The accounting profession is a stable and growing arena that offers strong earning potentials that demand high level of integrity, accuracy and continuous on-the-job learning to its members. Studies have shown that female accountants are less satisfied with their job and also do not often attain higher organizational positions as hoped. This paper seeks to examine the job satisfaction of women accountants using twelve (12) job satisfaction indices. And also, if the female or male accountants are better promoters of the accounting profession using the employee net promoter score (eNPS). The study employed survey research design. The target population of study consists of chartered accountants registered with The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design through the administration of questionnaire. The findings of the study revealed a negative relationship between gender stereotypes and job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that the negative effect of gender stereotypes of women professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria be curtailed.

Keywords: Accounting Profession; Job Satisfaction; Unconscious Bias, Female Accountants, Gender Inequality; eNPS.

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)

Introduction

Satisfaction is the difference between having a job or a career, satisfaction is attained when a worker makes a career from the job he or she engages in. Many a story have been told of workers who end up making a career from the job they find themselves in, especially when the job is not related to their field of study or got the job just to earn a livelihood, the reason is simply that the worker finds satisfaction in the job. It can be concluded that a satisfied employee is a happy employee and a happy employee is a successful employee (Aziri, 2011). A recent report from The Conference Board Job Satisfaction Survey (2020) shows that despite the pandemic of covid-19 resulting in economic crisis, increase in unemployment rate, mass layoffs, shift to remote work stations and other ills of the pandemic, there was no decline in job satisfaction, but instead job satisfaction increased by 20%. This is contrary to expectation as there is a strong connection between job satisfaction and labor market conditions. When labor market conditions are weak, the risk of job-loss is higher because workers can and do leave jobs they don't like. This is apparently an indication that true job satisfaction is about fulfilling a worker's full potential, tapping into a worker's creativity and the feeling that a worker can make a difference.

Any society that fails to harness the energy and creativity of its women is a huge disadvantage in the modern world. Women (and girls) constitute half of the world's population and by inference, half of the world's potentials. Women perform two-thirds of the world's work hours, receive one-tenth of the world's income but own less than one-tenth of the world's property. Relegating them in any form is a bane to well-rounded human development and has far reaching macroeconomic consequences for them and the world (Katrin Elborgh-Woytek, et al, 2013). One of the key findings of Global Gender Gap Report (2023) is that while none of the countries surveyed has attained 100% gender parity, gender gap is closing gradually. Despite the positive trend, indices on gender parity in economic participation and access to opportunity dropped from its 2022 levels in 2023. It is also reported that it would take 131 years to fully close gender parity gap in all the countries surveyed (Global Gender Gap Report, 2023). When Sub-Saharan Africa is isolated, it will take 102 years to close gender parity gap (Global Gender Gap Report, 2023).

The sustainable development goal (SDG, 2016) under the department of economy and social affairs aims to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls. According to The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report (2021), gender parity has recently been set back more than 30 years due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Inequality between women and men in Europe (EU, 2017) still represents a critical key to contrast since gender segregation affects occupations in all economic sectors. Closing the global gender gap has increased by a generation, from 99.5 years to 135.6 years, states the report, which finds preliminary evidence to suggest that the health emergency and the related economic downturn have impacted women more severely than men, partially reopening gaps that were closing. According to McKinsey & Company and Lean In's Women in the Workplace (2021) report, 86% of women are promoted to manager for every 100 men promoted to the same level. And, in 2021, women employees in the U.S. and Canada represented just 24% of С-Suite executives, 27% of Senior Vice Presidents, and 30% of Vice Presidents. Likewise, an Australian survey by Egon Zehnder (2017) found that women's ambitions, which start out similar to men's, wane over time due to exposure to the glass ceiling effect when reality sets in about the challenges they will face in attaining senior leadership roles. Additionally, as women are exposed to a lifetime of stereotypes and biased evaluations in the workplace (Correll and Simard 2016), rather than developing thick skins, their confidence may be crushed (Johnston, 2016).

All professions, including the accounting profession, can support the economic independence and well-being of both men and women, if well designed and capable of allowing for the equal sharing of care responsibilities between women and men. Each employee in every organization has a certain degree of expectations of his/her employer with regard to recognition of their role and their contribution towards the organization, which they want to be suitably rewarded, be it in terms of salary, welfare schemes, along with extending all those perks and the privileges with their counterparts in other similar organizations or on similar portfolios enjoy. But the fact remains that no two organizations can offer similar kind satisfaction to its employees and no two employees have a similar degree of expectations from their employer. Given the fact, one group of employees may show satisfaction with some variables to a certain degree, while other may show total dissatisfaction with such variables. It is always difficult for employers to satisfy each of its employees to the same degree at different fronts (Aziri, 2011; Kaliski, 2007). Job satisfaction is considered as one of the main factors that determine the effectiveness and efficiency of business organizations. The new managerial paradigm, which insists that employees should be treated primarily as someone who has their own needs and personal desires, is a very good indicator of the importance of job satisfaction in modern enterprises.

This study therefore aims to examine the effect of gender stereotypes on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria.

Literature

Almost two centuries ago, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott in 1840, with a few hundred women at America's first women's rights convention in New York, converged with one voice to claim women's equal rights to civil, social, political, legal, economic and religious rights with men. Since then, the movement that was bom from that protest has generated many voices speaking for women's equal rights on all grounds with men. One of the major outcomes of the movement is the emphasis that must be laid on the intersectionality of women's oppression in areas such as race, class, ethnicity, religion, equal opportunities to education, economic participation and sexual orientation.. By the early 1900s, the two World Wars paved the way for women to take on 'untraditional" jobs while men headed to war. From this time onward, women in the Western world began to experience the world of work, even though unequally, with men. While this might not have necessarily been the case in Africa because of the structural settings that fostered complementarity of the genders in the different spheres of African socio-cultural, economic and political life, contact with the West in the eras of slavery and colonialism saw women losing their positions of importance to imposition of western way of life. Educationally, women were not initially allowed to participate in western form of education. This had a direct negative influence on their entrance into the workforce as men did. These preambles briefly help to establish on of the key reasons why women still struggle to enjoy same opportunities with men in the difference professions. If they do not have same opportunities as men, there would be elements bias in the modem workplace that negatively affect women's job satisfaction.

Job satisfaction refers to a worker's feeling of fulfilment on the job, which acts as a motivation to work while Job dissatisfaction brings an absence of motivation at work. Satisfaction simply means the feeling of attainment of an objective or a goal. Job satisfaction represents a combination of positive or negative feelings that workers have towards their work. Work is a central part of almost everyone's life. Adults devote most of their waking time to work, as career development makes up almost 70% of all human developmental tasks. Hence it is important that the employees feel a sense of satisfaction with their job or else it might lead to frustration, anger and in some cases even depression. Job satisfaction is also an achievement indicator in career developmental tasks. According to Aziri, (2011) there is no definite definition of job satisfaction, the author posits that before a definition on job satisfaction can be decided, the nature and importance of work as a universal human activity must be considered. The definition of job satisfaction is subjective to human behavior and therefore reflective of the school of thought they belong. Job satisfaction is closely linked to a worker's behaviour in the work place (Davis & Newstrom, 1985).

Hoppock (1935) defined job satisfaction as any combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances that cause a person truthfully to say I am satisfied with my job. According to this school of thought job satisfaction is under the influence of many external factors, it remains something internal that has to do with how the employee feels, that is, job satisfaction presents a set of factors that cause a feeling of satisfaction. Vroom (1964) defines job satisfaction as affective orientations on the part of employees toward work roles which they are presently occupying, thus focuses on the role of the employee in the workplace. Locke (1976) defines job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences, it is assessed at both the global level (whether the individual is satisfied with the job overall), or at the facet level (whether the individual is satisfied with different aspects of the job). Job satisfaction can be defined as a sense of employee achievements and successes. Wcxlcy and Youkl (1984) defined job satisfaction as feelings and attitudes of the employee towards work. Kelly (1996) defines job satisfaction as simply how content an individual is with their job; whether they like the job. It is generally believed that job satisfaction is directly related to productivity and work performance, as well as to personal well-being. Job satisfaction means doing the work one likes, doing it well and being rewarded for own efforts (Kaliski, 2007; Aziri, 2011). Job satisfaction is an essential element motivating employees and encouraging them to achieve better results (Raziq and Maulabakhsh, 2015). Alluding to Locke, Inayat and Jahanzeb Khan (2021), posit that "job satisfaction is the positive and enjoyable feeling that results from the evaluation of one's job or job experience" (p. 1).

Spector (1997), lists 14 common facets that relates to job and can be used as measures of job satisfaction, they are appreciation, communication, coworkers, fringe benefits, Job conditions, nature of the work, organization, personal growth, policies and procedures, promotion opportunities, recognition, security, and supervision. In the study of Carvajal, Popovici, and Hardigan (2018), the authors used twelve (12) job satisfaction indices of adequacy of salary and benefits, workload, stress, advancement opportunities, job security, autonomy, fairness in the workplace, scheduling flexibility, job atmosphere, job importance to the society, supervisor's support, and relationships with coworkers.

Wages and salaries are the ultimate indicator of success for any worker. A high income within the profession communicates to the world that an accountant is capable of coping with the pressures of the labor market and the many challenges raised by clients in providing either audit or other assurances services. An excessive workload is a major source of dissatisfaction for professional accountants, it is associated more with ensuring that the financial statements of clients are free from material misstatements and errors. Another source of dissatisfaction is stress which may lead to burnout, it arises when professional accountants experience unfavorable conditions over which they have no control expectation gaps from users of reports prepared, and inadequate support from management and members of staff of client's firm. Professional accountants' levels of job satisfaction increase with their perception of available advancement opportunities. Perceptions of job security also exert important effects on the Professional accountants' workforce through labor productivity, employment, and other outcomes and are one of the top motivating influences to enter the profession. Still another facet of job satisfaction is the ability to exercise one's judgment in conducting professional activities and controlling allocation of one's time; more discretion provides Professional accountants with a sense of autonomy conducive to caring more about what they do feeling better about it, and rendering better services to clients. Fairness in the workplace, also known as organizational justice, is probably the most subjective concept analyzed here for it involves not only de facto inequalities, which may be explained by market differentials, but also interpretation and feelings by Professional accountants' perceived disparities in how workers arc treated account for a great deal of dissatisfaction. Scheduling flexibility is another factor appealing to Professional accountants' when they compare jobs insofar as it allows them to find a better balance between the personal- and work-related aspects of their lives and reduces stressors part-time employment, non-standard work, flexible hours, and specialized leave policies are some of the initiatives being implemented worldwide to accommodate non-work activities. Also conducive to job satisfaction (or the lack thereof) is the job atmosphere, alternatively known as organizational climate, it refers to employees' perception of the typical practices and behaviors that prevail in the workplace, especially those that accord with expectations and consequently arc rewarded. The perceived importance of one's job to clients is another contributor to Professional accountants' contentment. Support from one's supervisor also fosters contentment by virtue of increasing confidence and relieving anxiety, according to Kahaleh and Gaither [50], this occurs when Professional accountants acquire empowerment, which engenders greater organizational commitment.

Bias

Bias is an unfair prejudice or discrimination against someone based on many factors including skin colour, race, gender, religion, amongst others. Bias can be categorized as explicit (conscious) bias or implicit (unconscious) bias. Conscious bias manifests in deliberate prejudiced behaviours and attitudes toward a certain group (people of colour, females, disabled people, amongst others) and result in various types of 'isms' - racism, ageism, and classism among others. Conscious biased attitudes are often easier to identify and address. Unconscious biases are "quick judgments and assessments of people and situations that are influenced by personal background, experiences, memories, and cultural environment" (Byyny, 2017). These judgments potentially affect social interactions (Reiners, 2021). Greenwald and Banaji's (1995), defines implicit bias as introspective failure to identify the elements of past experiences that influence one's current feelings, thoughts, and behavior. Noon (2018) posited that unconscious biases are deeply rooted attitudes and behaviors exhibited by everyone, occur unknowingly and through social psychological testing are measurable. Unconscious bias continues to result in significant discrimination against qualified and experienced women in the workplace (Genat, Wood and Sojo 2012). Unconscious bias (or implicit bias) is deeply ingrained social stereotypes about certain groups of people that form outside of our conscious awareness during all stages of our lives, such biases often transform into systemized unjust attitudes towards others and makes us believe that certain practices are normal. Mattia and Mattia (2018), the authors posit that unconscious bias explains a lot about women's status in the financial world. Many firms have tried to reduce unconscious bias in the workplace through education and increased awareness. Robertson and Byrne (2016), posit fact that organizations focused on unconscious bias training have ironically increased unconscious bias, creating more stereotyping, not less.

There are many forms of unconscious bias

Affinity bias

Affinity bias explains a natural human tendency to prefer, network, gravitate towards, develop relationships and socialise with people who are like us, there is natural chemistry with individuals who arc most like ourselves, sharing similar interests and backgrounds. (McPherson, Smith-Lovin and Cook 2001). According to Maxwell (2017), this leads people to invest more energy and resources in those who are in their affinity group while unintentionally leaving others out. This type of bias most visibly manifests in the workplace as a persistent 'boys' club' culture (Evans & Maley, 2021).

Halo bias

Thorndike (1920) propounded the halo bias when exploring appraisal of battalion officers by their bosses and other officers based on attributes or qualities that affect, have interrelationships and determine other attributes and qualities (Graf et al., 2016; Cooper, 1981). The halo bias is the tendency people have to place another person on a pedestal after learning something impressive about them (Battaglio, 2015; Park, 2014; Kahneman, 2011; Borman, 1975). The halo bias is also in literature referred to as the halo effect. According to Kanhere, (2017) the halo effect manifests when other people such as evaluators, raters construct a comprehensive impression about a person - an evaluace, ratee according to one specific aspect, such as, personality traits- smartness, physical characteristics- looks, abilities, mental states-, sociableness, which subsequently affects the remaining rating criteria for the assessment Belle et al., 2017. Schimmack and Kim (2020); Dufner, Gebauer and Sedikides (2019), also describes halo bias as self-enhancement, that is an individual having positive illusions about themselves, Kim, Schimmack and Oishi, (2012) infers that individuals with positive illusions about the self can also have positive illusions about others, and do not necessarily have to see themselves as better than others. Prestía, (2019) defines halo bias as creating esteem for an individual based on a singular achievement, insulations that a Harvard graduate must be intellectual to excel at everything, halo bias may positively influence someone's ability to receive a promotion. In Bonilla, (2020) the author suggests that halo bias permits raters to be influenced by a specific situation or characteristic attributed to an employee which subsequently affects the remaining rating criteria for the employee, which creates the probability that errors in ratings substantially lessen raters' accuracy due to bias.

Horn bias

The horn bias, which is also referred to as horn effect, devil's horn or forked-tail effect from the work of Thorndike (1920), is the exact opposite of the halo bias. According to Bligh, Kohles, Pearce, Justin, and Stovall (2007), It is also known as the rusty halo, which is applied to situations where overall negative appraisal is made based on one salient failure or negative characteristic. The horn bias is the tendency people have to view another person negatively after learning something unpleasant or negative about them (Burton et al. 2015). Petasis, Christodoulou, and Louca (2020), horn bias causes an appraiser to generalize one aspect of an employee's performance bad to all areas of that employee's performance, thus overshadowing other traits, or behaviors. Türkmenoǧlu (2020), horn effect develops when an employee is unsuccessful in a specific part of his/her job, and this lack of success is generalized for every aspect of the job thereby concluding about a person with his/her one negative characteristic assuming all his/her characteristics are negative. Prestía (2019), one miss-step of a worker clouds the superior's or employer's opinion which impacts negatively on the worker's prospects of job satisfaction, instances arc a lazy employee could be considered as a liar or disrespectful at work, 4 years ago, she failed at a project, so she should not be considered for a promotion and this causes job dissatisfaction for the worker.

Beauty bias

Beauty bias is a social behavior where people believe that attractive people are more successful, competent and qualified. Beauty bias is also known as physical appearance, physical attractiveness, pretty privilege, lookism, beauty premium. Abueg, Hubilla, Lozano, Valdivieso, and Valencia (2020); Rosenblat, (2008), define beauty bias as beauty premium, a physical attribute that is an advantage to a worker that enhances a worker's ability to earn higher wages. Job performance, attractiveness, physically fit and well-dressed workers tend to be viewed as more competent, which in turn may influence career success, Lee, Chen, Yu and Tsui (2011), posit that Physical Attractiveness is one of the many attributes of an Employee as looking good plays a role in everything from corporate politics to promotions. According to Chaker, Walker, Nowlin and Anaza (2019), physical attractiveness enhances intellectual and professional competence. Beauty bias is associated with intelligence, social competence, and these personality traits can increase workplace social capital of the employee, leading to a greater job satisfaction, better performance, and higher earnings (Dilmaghani,2020; Mobius & Rosenblat, 2006).

Beauty bias can be a negative factor that causes job mismatches and poor job performances when a worker's appointment or assessment due to unobserved quality of skills that may be required for the job but replaced with physical attributes (Abueg, Hubilla, Lozano, Valdivieso, & Valencia, 2020).

Underrepresentation

Women underrepresentation in key positions such as top management and in many professional arenas has been major research issue since the dawn of the twenty-first century and as a result majority of seminars and workshops are held to make an overview of women issues and their progress but still women lag behind their male counterparts (Auriol, Friebel, Weinberger, & Wilhelm, 2022; Brower, Schwartz, & Bertrand Jones, 2019; Longman, 2018). Despite the positive trend of women's presence in the workplace, women are struggling to get to higher management level. International literature findings, as well as recent surveys (AFECA and FEE 2016), suggest that the underrepresentation of women in senior roles in the accounting profession continues to be a challenge and points out that the accounting profession has traditionally been dominated by established male power structures that make it difficult for women to progress in their careers (2019).

Churikova (2020), states that women remain significantly underrepresented at senior levels. A small sample of data from three countries indicates that in the top corporate companies, women account for a small margin of the members of executive teams: 16 percent in the United States, 12 percent in the United Kingdom, and 6 percent in Brazil; and the percentage of women on companies' Boards of Directors also remains very low: 27 percent in the United Kingdom, 21.7 percent in the United States, and 8.4 percent in Brazil. In developing countries such as in Pakistan, men constitute 68% of the labor force as compare to women with 20% participation, despite legal rights and constitution women have fewer opportunities to participate in economic activities and they remain restricted from opportunities due to patriarchal system (PBS, 2018).

Emerging evidence suggests this underrepresentation is more attributable to disadvantages rather than merit, such as negative experiences women face within professional arenas related to stereotypes favoring men. Women do not stay in practice long enough to reach partnership level; female accountants leave practice for industry or self-employment, to avail better career opportunities. Indeed, career obstacles emerge much earlier in a woman's career than in a man's career (Twomey et al., 2002).

There are many reasons why underrepresentation of women is screamed against, one, there is a need for role models in professional arenas for people to make decisions on what field to choose, more successful women would draw more capable women into the field (Del Carpio & Guadalupe, 2021; Porter & Serra, 2020). Gender diversity leads companies to be more productive as measured by market value and revenue. Additionally, a diverse workforce is better at attracting talent, encouraging innovation, and signaling competence to investors.

Moderating variable

Promoters of accounting profession measured by eNPS

employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is used as the moderating variable between the dependent and independent variables and their proxies. Employer Net Promoter Score, or eNPS, is a scoring system designed to help employers measure employee satisfaction and loyalty within their organizations. The question asks employees to rate, on a scale from zero to ten, how likely it is they would recommend the organization as a place to work. According to Reichheld (2003), NPS tends to be "the one number you need to know to grow" in order to have a successful business. According to Vochin, Sârbu, Stanciu and Mansouz (2020), it has been shown that NPS plays a very important role in correlating the growth prospects for the company, but also that it is one of the best indicators of the loyalty of employees or customers. According to the database provided by David Frenay (2016), the average Net Promoter Score is estimated at 34.3%. The scale presented above is useful for organizations to focus on two major objectives: maximizing promoters and minimizing detractors. The system generates a score using the responses to the question, first by sorting ratings into three categories: promoters, with ratings of nine or ten, passives or neutrals, with ratings of seven or eight, and detractors, with ratings of six or below. Promoters are those employees who are highly satisfied and likely to recommend your organization as a place to work. Passives are employees who are satisfied enough to be content but may not be entirely engaged. Detractors are those who are unlikely to recommend their organization, which may indicate some level of employee dissatisfaction. The percentage of detractors is then subtracted from the percentage of promoters, and the final number represents the organization's Employer Net Promoter Score.

Theoretical Framework

Affect theory

Job satisfaction can be measured in cognitive (evaluative), affective (or emotional), and behavioral components. Researchers have also noted that job satisfaction measures vary in the extent to which they measure feelings (affective job satisfaction) or cognitions (cognitive job satisfaction) about the job (Thompson & Phua, 2012; Hulin & Judge,2003); Moorman, 1993).

Affect theory is originally attributed to the psychologist Silvan Tomkins, introduced in the first two volumes of his book Affect Imagery Consciousness (1962). It is the underlying experience of feeling, emotion or attachment. Locke, (1976) advanced the theory, titled Range of Affect Theory. The theory is the most celebrated job satisfaction model. The theory proposes that job satisfaction is determined by a divergence between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job. The theory also states how much one values a given aspect of work namely the degree of autonomy in a position or the availability of advancement amongst others, which moderates how satisfied or dissatisfied one becomes positive (when expectations are met) or negative (when expectations are not met). When a person values a particular aspect of a job, their satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively or negatively, compared to one who does not value that aspect of the job.

Equity Theory

The theory which was propounded by Adams (1965), shows how a person views fairness in regard to social relationships such as with an employer. A person identifies the amount of input (things gained) from a relationship compared to the output (things given) to produce an input/output ratio. They then compare this ratio to the ratio of other people in deciding whether they have an equitable relationship. Equity Theory suggests that if an individual thinks there is an inequality between two social groups or individuals, the person is likely to be distressed because the ratio between the input and the output are not equal (Schafer & Keith, 1980; Carrell & Dittrich, 1978). For example, consider two employees who work the same job and receive the same pay and benefits. If one individual gets a pay raise for doing the same work as the other, then the less benefited individual will become distressed in the workplace. If, on the other hand, both individuals get pay raises and new responsibilities, then the feeling of equity will be maintained. Other psychologists have extended the equity theory, suggesting three behavioral response patterns to situations of perceived equity or inequity. These three types are benevolent -satisfied when they are under-rewarded compared with co-workers, equity sensitive-bclieve everyone should be fairly rewarded, entitled-people believe that everything they receive is their just due. The level by each type affects motivation, job satisfaction, and job performance.

Gender Stratification Theory

Gender stratification theory also known as social stratification or gender inequality refers to women not having the same chances or opportunities as men do, because of their gender (Brinton 1998; Dubose 2017; Blumberg 1984; Keister and Southgate 2012), it deliberates upon social ranking, where men typically inhabit a higher status than women. The inequalities exist to create differences in the degree of responsibilities, where there is a tendency like in any other social group, for one group to become more dominant and suppress the other group (Treas and Tai 2016). Gender stratification theory emphasizes upon creating layers inside the society and about how always one layer will be more powerful than the other. Accordingly, from a gendered perspective, men are the more important layer, and women as a group will always take a back seat to history and the public scene or positions of power. Elements that are leading to this conjunction are glass-ceiling, sexism, prejudice, double standard, and underrepresentation. The point that is the underlying element to all of the above lies is the assumption that men are superior to women (Treas and Tai 2016; Collins et al. 1993; Keister and Southgate 2012). Consequently, if the latter do however have the courage to enter into a profession, they have trouble to meet the expectations (that are moulded in a man's image) and thus in most cases they have difficulty in performing a distinguishing career path (Treas and Tai 2016; Collins et al. 1993; Brinton 1998).

Methodology

This study will adopt the survey research design. The population of this study consist of all Chartered Accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria. The target population of this study consisted of all chartered accountants registered with The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Ogun State in Nigeria. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Nigeria operates locally through a district society. The district is an extension of the institute. A member of the institute is admitted as a member of the district if he resides, practices or is employed within the area of the society, the admitted member pays annual dues and other levies to the district. The State has five district societies within its environment.

The sample size consisted of all district members that are regarded as financial members of the district. These arc members that pay the minimum required annual dues of the society. The sampling technique used for this study is the Purposive sampling technique. The sample size selection is based on the Taro Yamane formula for determining sample sizes. The formula is stated as:

...

Where:

n sample size

N = total population

e - error term = 0.05

...

...

...

...

...

A modification upward of 10% of the sample size of 289 was added to take care of possible non response (Asika, 2009). The total sample size was 317.

Data used for this study is generated from the primary source through the administration of questionnaire to chartered accountants in the five district societies in Ogun State in Nigeria. The questionnaire was administered by hand to the respondents in their offices by the researcher. A google form being a replica of the questionnaire was also sent online with scanned letter of introduction to the e-mail of the secretariat of each district office. The questionnaire is divided into three sections, section A contains demographic attributes of the respondents, section В contains independent variables and section C for the dependent variables. The questions on the variables investigated in the questionnaire used for the study were in a close ended form and scaled using a Six (6) point Likert scale which was converted into code manuals of (Strongly Agree = 1, Agree = 2, Neutral = 3, Strongly Disagree = 1, Disagree =2). The questionnaire was validated, certified by experts in the subject matter and versatile in research. The pilot study result indicated that the research instrument was reliable as the Cronbach's alpha of the scale for all the variables is greater than 0.70.

The study adopted the ordinary least square regression estimate to analyse the data gathered in this research. The model was used to evaluate the strength of the relationship between the outcome variable and the predictor variable, as well as the relative importance of each predictor variable to the relationship, with the effect of other predictors often statistically eliminated. In achieving the stated objectives of this study, both descriptive and inferential statistics was used in analysing the data collected for this study. Descriptive statistics shows characteristics such as the mean, minimum, maximum, standard deviation. It involves a qualitative data analysis and also a description of the main aspects of the study. The inferential statistics was used in explaining and predicting the linkage between the variables which helped in testing the hypothesis formulated and to answer research questions. The null and alternate hypothesis testing was carried out to demonstrate the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The f-test and the adjusted R² were used to evaluate the adequacy and the explanatory power of the models.

The significant variables used in this research were operationalized in order to show the functional relationship between the dependent and independent variables.

Y = f(X)

Where:

Y = Job Satisfaction (JOSA) (dependent variable)

X = Gender Stereotypes (GEST) (independent variable)

where GEST

X = X1,X2,

xi = unconscious bias (UNCBI)

X2 = underrepresentation (UNDPN)

Functional Relationships

Y = f(x)

JOSA = f (UNCBI)_____Fl

JOSA =f (UNDPN)_____F2

Model Formation:

JOSA = ß₀ + ß₁UNCBI + ei_____Model 1

JOSA = ß_o + ß₂UNDPN + si_____Model 2

The result of the demographic attributes shows that out of the 243 respondents that filled the questionnaires 39.9% are female, 60.1% are male. 4.5% are between 26-33years of age, 8.6% are between 31-41years, 36.6% are between 4249years, 50.3% are above 50 years of age. 3.7% respondent are single, 88.1% respondent arc married, 3.3% are either separated or divorced while 1.6% arc widowed. Educational qualification indicates that the respondents are well educated and have tertiary education with a larger number of respondents having a B.Sc, are 35%, M.Sc. are 31.7%, PhD are 21.8% while HND is 11.5%. Also from the table, 63% of the respondents arc FCA, 37% are АСА of which 4.9% have been chartered accountants between 0-5years, 13.2% between 6-10years, 62.1% between ll-20years, 19.8% are between 20years and above. Furthermore 41.6% are top management level, 53.9% are in middle management level, 4.5% are junior management level. In terms of accountancy discipline, 25.5% are in Audit & Assurance practice, 6.6% are in tax practice, 27.2% are in Academics/Research, 29.6% are in public sector practice, 11.1% are Self-employed. 40.7% of the chartered accountants are in Abeokuta district society, 26.7% are in Ijebu-Ode district society, 22.2% are in Ota district society, 4.5% are in ilaro/Mowe district societies.

Empirical analysis

JOSA = f(UNCBI)_____Fl

JOSA = ß₀ + ßiUNCB₁ + α₁_____Model 1

JOSA = 26.213-0.213

Interpretation

Table 4 represents the regression model 1 hypothesis testing the effect of gender stereotypes on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria. The result indicates that unconscious bias has a negative effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria. This is indicated by the parameters of the coefficients which are ßi=-0.213. This is inconsistent with a prior expectation of the study which states that unconscious bias has a positive effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria. This means that one percent increase in unconscious bias would lead to 21.3% decrease in job satisfaction at an insignificant t-statistics of -2.617 and a p-value of 0.009>0.005, which implies that unconscious bias had no significant effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria. The adjusted R2 which is the coefficient of determination is 0.024 (2.4%), this suggests that only 2.4% variation in job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria can be explained by unconscious bias while the remaining 97.6% is caused by other variables not captured in the model. This is a moderate effect and evidence of causality. The result is further confirmed by the probability of the F-statistics (6.849) which measured the effect of the model. The probability stood at 0.009 which is greater than 0.05 level of significance adopted for this study. This implies that the null hypothesis one which states that unconscious bias has no significant effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria is accepted. Therefore, from the regression estimates, unconscious bias has no significant effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria.

Discussion of Findings

In hypothesis 1 predicts a negative and insignificant relationship to exist between gender stereotypes as measured by unconscious bias and job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria Therefore, the null hypothesis is accepted and it is concluded that there is no significant relationship between unconscious bias and job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria.

The finding of this study is not in line with Evans and Maley (2021), in their work Barriers to women in senior leadership: how unconscious bias is holding back Australia's economy, the authors reveal that unconscious bias significantly impacted on job satisfaction of women. Furthermore, affinity bias was practiced in the Austrialia's economy as women were excluded senior ranks because more men were recruited, sponsored and promoted to occupy leadership positions.

The finding of this study is not in line with study of Abueg, Hubilla, Lozano, Valdivieso and Valencia (2020). In their study Penalties and some counterfactuals to beauty premium: evidence from a job search simulation experiment, revealed that physical attractiveness has a significant impact on wages as a measure of job satisfaction in this study, furthermore the study proposes that physically attractive women workers are more productive than physically attractive male workers. Belle, Cantarelli and Belardinelli (2017) in their study on Cognitive biases in performance appraisal: Experimental evidence on anchoring and halo effects with public sector managers and employees, revealed that halo bias had a significant effect on performance appraisal of employees by granting a higher score to an employee based on a different performance element used for other employees, and furthermore the halo effect had effect on only women.

Test of hypothesis (H0₂)

Underrepresentation has no significant effect on job satisfaction of Professional Accountants in Ogun State Nigeria.

JOSA = f (UNDPN)_____F2

JOSA = ßo + ß2UNDPN + si_____Model 2

JOSA = 25.949 -0.383

Interpretation

Table 5 represents the regression model 2 hypothesis testing the effect of gender stereotypes on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria. The result indicates that underrepresentation has a negative effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria. This is indicated by the parameters of the coefficients which are β1==-0.383. This is inconsistent with a prior expectation of the study which states that underrepresentation has a positive effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria. This means that one percent increase in underrepresentation would lead to 38.3% decrease in job satisfaction at an insignificant t-statistics of -2.914 and a p-value of 0.0040.005, which implies that underrepresentation had a significant effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria. The adjusted R2 which is the coefficient of determination is 0.031 (3.1%), this suggests that only 3.1% variation in job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria can be explained by underrepresentation while the remaining 96.9% is caused by other variables not captured in the model. This is a moderate effect and evidence of causality. The result is further confirmed by the probability of the F-statistics (8.493) which measured the effect of the model. The probability stood at 0.004 which is lesser than 0.05 level of significance adopted for this study. This implies that the null hypothesis one which states that underrepresentation has no significant effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria is not accepted. Therefore, from the regression estimates, underrepresentation has a significant effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State in Nigeria.

Discussion of findings

Hypothesis 2 predicts a negative and significant relationship to exist between gender stereotypes as measured by underrepresentation and job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected and it is concluded that there is a significant relationship between underrepresentation and job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State, Nigeria. This position is justified in the work of Auriol, Friebel, Weinberger and Wilhelm (2022), titled Underrepresentation of women in the economics profession more pronounced in the United States compared to heterogeneous Europe. The study revealed that women are underrepresented in the economic profession which is evidenced as a trend in the United States as attrition of women is evidenced right after their PhD and will discourage women from applying for such positions as a result of job dissatisfaction. Del Baldo, Tiron-Tudor and Faragalla (2018), in their work, Women's role in the accounting profession: A comparative study between Italy and Romania, revealed that there is a reduced percentage of women in higher positions and in the accountancy profession. Also in Ayub, Khan and Khushnood (2019), the study indicates that women are underrepresented in senior management levels.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The objective of this study is manly to examine the effect of gender stereotypes and job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria. The regression result shows that there is a negative relationship between gender stereotypes and job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria. However, only underrepresentation has a significant effect on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria. This implies that a decrease in underrepresentation of women will lead to more job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria. After the evaluation of unconscious bias and underrepresentation and the assessment of the negative effects on job satisfaction of professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria, it was discovered that gender stereotypes has negative impact on women professional accountants and their job satisfaction in Ogun State Nigeria and if this situation is not properly addressed might continuously lead to women not attaining leadership and higher positions in their workplace due to job dissatisfaction as a result of gender stereotypes.

The study therefore recommends that the negative effect of gender stereotypes of women professional accountants in Ogun State Nigeria be curtailed and the measures of job satisfaction test adequacy of salary and benefits, workload, stress, advancement opportunities, job security, autonomy, fairness in the workplace, scheduling flexibility, job atmosphere, job importance to the society, supervisor's support, and relationships with coworkers, in this study be enhanced in various organizations or sphere of accounting discipline that women-chartered accountants practice to remove unconscious bias and underrepresentation of women in the accounting profession in Ogun State Nigeria. Professional accounting bodies such as ICAN and other regulating bodies such labour union should ensure that women are well represented in top leadership position of organizations.

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APPENDIX

Questionnaire

Section A

Instruction: Tick as Appropriate

1. Chartered Accountant: АСА [ ], FC A [ ]

2. Length of years as a Chartered Accountant

3. Gender: Female [ ] Male [ ]

4. Age: 18-25years [ ], 26-33years [ ], 31-41years [ ], 42-49years[ ], above 50 years[ ]

5. Marital Status: Divorced, Married [ ], Separated [ ], Single [ ], widowed[ ]

6. Do you have children? Yes [ ] No [ ]

7. For how long have you been working? 0-5years [ ] 6-10years [ ], 11-20 years[ ], above 20years [ ]

8. Management Level: Top [ ] Middle [ ] Junior[ ]

9. Educational qualification: HND [ ], B.Sc. [ ] M.Sc.[ ] PhD[ ]

10. District Society: Abeokuta [ ], Ijebu-Ode [ ], Haro [ ], Mowc [ ], Ota [ ]

11. Accountancy Discipline of respondents: Audit & Assurance [ ], Tax [ ], Academics/Research [ ], Public sector

[ ], Self-employed [ ]

Note: SA -strongly agreed (1) A -agreed (2) Neutral (3) SD -strongly disagreed (4) D-disagreed (5)