Who's to Blame? Attributions of Blame in Unsuccessful Mixed-Sex Work Teams

Abstract

This study examined how blame is attributed when mixed-sex teams produce unsuccessful work products. Participants read about a mixed-sex dyad that had worked together on a male sex-typed task and had an unsuccessful group outcome. We varied the information participants received about the performance on the group task. When the only performance information available was group-level feedback, participants attributed more blame to the female teammate than to the male teammate. However, when individual-level feedback was available, participants attributed more blame to the male teammate than the female teammate. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.