Ms. Trust: Gender, Networks and Trust—Implications for Management and Education

Despite knowing how important social capital is and despite the fact that so much time, money, and attention is given to raising the status of women in managerial ranks, women have yet to achieve anything like equal status at the top level of organizational hierarchies. One factor that has received limited attention in the literature is that of differences in the way men and women network and that the way women network might not only disadvantage their own professional career progression but also put other women at a disadvantage as well. This study explores this phenomenon and specifically looks at how social network size varies with level of trust between parties. Our results suggest women tend to trust each other less in a risky professional environment compared to men. Though women were found to have the same scale social networks, they exhibit a greater reduction in aggregate network size at higher trust levels. We find that women socialize with each other, but when it comes to a matter of risk taking, women exclude each other and prefer to network with men. Implications for development and management education are discussed and avenues of future research are considered.