ABSTRACT

A debate exists in communication studies regarding the usefulness of continuing traditional, behaviorally based research on gender differences in interpersonal and organizational settings. It has been argued by a number of quantitative researchers (e.g., Canary and Hause, 1993; Harper and Hirokawa, 1988; Hirokawa, Mickey, and Miura, 1991; Wilkins and Andersen, 1991) that evidence indicates that sex differences in communicative behavior are tiny and contradictory and that many of our views of women's communicative styles reflect stereotypes rather than empirical observations. For example, in their meta-analysis, Wilkins and Andersen found that only 0.5% of the variance in organizational communication behaviors is due to sex differences. More recently, Branzei (2002) found similarly small differences in a study of cross-cultural influence tactics used by Japanese and American managers.