Gender Differences in Benevolence Sensitivity: Implications for Trust and Wellbeing in the Workplace

Abstract: We investigate gender differences in how women and men develop and express interpersonal trust in work relationships. Drawing on gender differences in socialization experiences, we propose that women will be more sensitive to benevolence than men and therefore, place greater value on trustees’ benevolence-related traits. Across 2 studies, we find that women have higher benevolence sensitivity than men when making trust judgments. Furthermore, we examine gender differences in the different dimensions of trust, and find that women are more likely than men to express disclosure-based trust. Finally, we test a conditional mediation model in which the impact of gender and benevolence on disclosure-based trust has downstream consequences for wellbeing at work.

Keywords: trust, gender, benevolence