Perceptions of Portuguese tourism graduates concerning women’s professional performance in leadership positions

Abstract

This study aims at presenting the results of the Gentour Project concerning the perceptions of Portuguese tourism graduates regarding women’s professional performance in leadership positions. The empirical study underlying the present research was based on a survey applied to Portuguese tourism graduates and carried out from December 2010 to March 2011. The sample consisted of 1,419 graduates. Convenience sampling technique was used. Contacts were established with professors and researchers of all Portuguese institutions with tourism higher education degrees, who were asked to disseminate the survey among former graduates. IBM SPSS Statistics (v.19) was used to perform the statistical analysis. Univariate and bivariate statistical techniques were applied, through exploratory and inferential methods, and a 5% level of significance was adopted. Female tourism graduates’ self-perceptions confirm that women tend to enhance their professional performance and leadership skills. Thus, data suggest that self-perceptions and self-confidence cannot explain gender differences in leadership positions. Since women’s self-perceptions are not self-imposed barriers to their career development, as claimed by some authors, the need to unveil the reasons, inherent to the observed gender gap, is advocated. The value of this study relies on the demystification of women’s selfperceptions as negative and inferior comparatively to their counterparts.