An Exploratory Examination of Gender Bias and Customer Satisfaction in the Retail Sector

ABSTRACT This exploratory study attempts to answer three questions: 1) does gender bias in the retail selling environment exist today; 2) does dissimilarity of buyer and seller gender lead to bias; and 3) do the determinants of customer satisfaction differ for men and women. The study does not find gender bias in the selling environment. Likewise, gender dissimilarity in the buyer/seller dyad did not produce any significant differences. The findings do, however, confirm that significant differences in the determinants of customer satisfaction exist between male and female buyers. Managerial and research implications are discussed. INTRODUCTION At the dawn of the twenty-first century, it is tempting to imagine that all people are treated equally, especially in buyer/seller exchanges. Inequities in customer treatment can affect attitudes toward the selling firm and overall satisfaction, leading to loss of customer base and lower profitability. However, evidence of gender bias still abounds in many areas including the workplace (e.g., Thomas, 2001), healthcare (e.g., Rutledge, 2001), education (e.g., Hornblower, 1998), and even in the retail selling environment (e.g., Lages, 1992). Lages (1992, p. 9) succinctly states that gender bias "can create tremendous misunderstanding, misinterpretation and even offense. A greater understanding of gender bias and some of its underlying causes in the salesperson/customer relationship could lead to an increase in the efficiency and productivity (and therefore, profitability) of daily retail operations. " A recent body of marketing literature proposes that some differences arise, not necessarily from gender differences per se, but rather from the dissimilarity between buyer and seller. This exploratory study attempts to answer three questions: 1) does gender bias in the retail selling environment exist today; 2) does dissimilarity of buyer and seller gender lead to bias; and 3) do the determinants of customer satisfaction differ for men and women. LITERATURE REVIEW A number of studies have assessed discrimination in a variety of retail environments. For example, Zinkhan and Stoiadin (1984) found that men receive precedence in service over females. Though female salespeople are considered more trustworthy than males, dissimilarity of buyer and seller do not effect initial perceptions of salesperson credibility (Jones et al., 1998). Several studies using controlled experiments found substantial evidence of gender discrimination in the new car market (Ayers, 1991; Ayers & Siegelman, 1995). However, no evidence of price discrimination against women was found in a more recent study based on actual purchase data of new cars (Goldberg, 1996). A second area in which gender bias has been studied in marketing is the sales literature. Ample evidence exists that women are disciplined less severely than men following an episode of unacceptable behavior in a sales environment (Rozema & Gray, 1987; Bellizzi & Hite, 1989; Bellizzi & Norvell, 1991; Bellizzi & Hasty, 2001). McNeilly and Russ (2000, p. 287) also found gender differences when assessing salesperson-sales manager dyads, and conclude that their study "hints at the possibility of gender bias. " However, this bias may be more an artifact of dissimilarity between salesperson and sales manager, rather than deliberate or intentional acts. In buyer/seller situations, gender dissimilarity does impact the perceived level of customer orientation (Palmer & Bejou, 1995); customer orientation was highest in female-female dyad, followed by male-male dyad. Thus, gender similarity seems to raise perceptions of customer orientation. Interestingly, Dwyer, Richard, and Shepherd (1998) found that gender dissimilarity in a buyer-seller situation results in higher performance; i.e., that persons selling to buyers of the opposite gender outperform those selling to buyers of the same gender. …