Queen Bee Phenomenon Scale: Psychometric Evidence in the Brazilian Context

Grangeiro, Rebeca da Rocha; Rezende, Alessandro Teixeira; Gomes Neto, Manoel Bastos; Carneiro, Jailson Santana; Esnard, Catherine

doi:10.1590/1807-7692bar2022210070

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Research Article • BAR, Braz. Adm. Rev. 19 (01) • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-7692bar2022210070 copy

Queen Bee Phenomenon Scale: Psychometric Evidence in the Brazilian Context

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to develop an instrument to measure the queen bee phenomenon, present in women in positions of command who hinder the professional development of other women. In this article, the phenomenon is understood as a response to the social threat experienced by women who aspire to high positions in men’s organizations. The sample, of 495 women who worked in higher education institutions, was divided into two groups: Group 1 (G1; 248, M_Age = 44 years old) and Group 2 (G2; 247, M_Age = 42 years old). These individuals answered the Queen Bee Phenomenon Scale (QBPS) and demographic questions. Considering the G1 participants, a principal component analysis was performed, which allowed the identification of a hexafactorial structure, explaining 60.5% of the total variance and presenting an overall internal consistency of 0.72. Subsequently, for the G2 participants, the adequacy of the QBPS hexafactorial structure was confirmed (CFI = 0.935, TLI = 0.923, and RMSEA = 0.049). It was concluded that there is evidence for both the validity of the factors and the internal consistency of the measure, which thus may be properly used in other studies.

Keywords:
queen bee phenomenon; gender; leadership; scale

Items	I	II	III	IV	V	VI
01. My professional career is one of the most important things in my life.	0.11	0.03	0.04	0.13	0.73	0.18
02. My life’s ambitions are mainly related to my career.	-0.05	0.03	0.13	0.06	0.80	-0.04
03. My career plays a central role in my life.	0.1	0.04	0.18	0.07	0.80	0.15
04. I work for the organization outside working hours.	0.1	0.06	0.26	-0.03	-0.13	0.78
05. I always contribute with good ideas during group discussions.	-0.08	0.06	-0.11	-0.02	0.21	0.63
06. I work tirelessly to solve difficult problems at work.	-0.16	-0.08	0.09	0.16	0.34	0.60
07. During my career, I’ve always felt that women and men receive equal support throughout their career.	0.69	-0.26	-0.1	0.13	0.1	-0.1
08. In organizations, men and women have the same chances of being promoted.	0.65	-0.34	0.02	0.03	0.12	-0.07
09. In my career, I was ridiculed or discriminated against for being a woman. ^(R)	0.85	-0.03	-0.15	-0.03	0.04	-0.04
10. During my career, I’ve noticed that ambitious women are prevented from pursuing their careers and aspirations. ^(R)	0.68	-0.19	-0.19	-0.13	-0.07	0.01
11. I feel that being a woman has prevented me from receiving important promotions and salary increases. ^(R)	0.80	-0.1	-0.23	0.01	-0.03	0.06
12. In organizations, people who do their jobs well should make it to the top.	-0.04	0.14	0.01	0.62	0.12	0.02
13. In life, people should get what they deserve.	-0.08	-0.21	-0.01	0.56	0.05	0.05
14. Promotion decisions should consider the effort people put into their work.	0.05	0.14	0.07	0.78	-0.02	0.05
15. Qualifications should have more weight than seniority in promotion decisions.	-0.06	-0.06	0.12	0.55	0.12	-0.05
16. Considering equal abilities, promotion should always be given to the person who tries hardest.	0.13	0.04	0.01	0.77	-0.01	-0.01
17. I have dedicated my time to work instead of being with my family or friends.	-0.1	0.13	0.71	0.07	0.07	0.24
Items	I	II	III	IV	V	VI
18. I canceled, reduced, or postponed family vacations to respect my professional commitments.	-0.08	0.07	0.68	0.03	0.07	0.22
19. Because of my career, I sometimes give less importance to my values and beliefs.	-0.04	0.04	0.58	0.01	-0.01	-0.38
20. I prioritized my career over my couple relationships.	-0.23	0.08	0.72	0.03	0.19	-0.06
21. I adapted my decision to have children or not depending on the demands of my career.	-0.25	0.11	0.51	0.08	0.11	-0.01
22. Gender quotas are a good recruitment policy.	-0.27	0.87	0.16	-0.02	0.05	0.02
23. I am in favor of gender quota policies.	-0.29	0.88	0.11	-0.03	0.04	0.02
24. Gender quotas allow women an equal chance as men to be promoted.	-0.2	0.82	0.15	0.13	0.02	0.02
Number of items	5	3	5	5	3	3
Proper value - Eigenvalue	5.13	3	1.95	1.64	1.49	1.3
% variance	21.4	12.5	8.13	6.2	5.42	4.4
Cronbach’s alpha	0.84	0.92	0.71	0.67	0.75	0.55
Average inter-item correlation (ri.i)	0.51	0.58	0.33	0.28	0.50	0.29

	Extracted and shared variance
Denial of discrimination	0.617
Support for gender quotas	0.246	0.864
Perception of sacrifice	0.151	0.114	0.475
Meritocracy	0	0.004	0.02	0.452
Career engagement	0.002	0.006	0.073	0.042	0.675
Male self-description	0.009	0.011	0.033	0.008	0.078	0.528

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