GENDER DI FFERENCES, BEHAVI OUR PATTERNS AND

J OB PERFORMANCE OF FEDERAL CI VI L SERVANTS I N

NI GERI A

By
L. A. Yahaya
Department of Educational Guidance and Counselling, University of Ilorin, Ilorin.

Abstract
Gender differences and behaviour patterns are at times used as measures or
determinants of superiority of a sex group or a personality type over the other
groups in job performance or other tasks. Hence, there is the belief that the
males and individuals who possess Type A behaviour patterns perform better
than females and Type B individuals respectively. This study therefore
investigated the joh performance of males and females as well as Type A and B
Federal Civil Servants in Nigeria. Type A behaviour pattern is characterized by a
sense of time urgency, aggression, high need for achievement and feeling of
insecurity. Type B behaviour pattern is manifested informs of high level of
confidence, unaggressiveness, being easy-going, and little or no desire jar
competition. In order to obtain relevant data, Employee Behaviour Patterns
Survey (EBPS) and Annual Performance Evaluation Reports (APER) were
administered on 675 federal civil servants selected on pro-rata basis from the
federal ministries in Nigeria. The t-test statistic was used to analyse the collected
data and the findings revealed that male and female and Types A and B Federal
civil servants were not significantly different in their job performance. The
implications of these findings for counselling were discussed.

Introduction
J ob performance has been described as an accomplishment of assigned duties in
accordance with organizational guidelines subject to the normal constraints of reasonable
utilization of available resources (J amal, 1984). Effective job performance has positive effects on
both an organization and its employees. For the organization, it is a means by which it ensures
production, economic growth and survival. Similarly, effective job performance provides the
employees with economic gains, security, social status, family and social prerogatives, medical
benefits and recreational and educational opportunities (Adana, 1986).
Having a job has always been a crucial factor in Nigerian society as individuals are
identified by their occupations. A person's job reveals his/her personality, and it influences the
nature of interactions he/she has with people. It largely determines the individual's social status,
affiliation, economic status and self-concept. J ob therefore offers a lot of benefits to
organizations, individuals and the society at large. However, at times individuals are usually
denied the opportunity of securing jobs due (o gender or personality factors. For instance, Uwe
(1999) observed that in Nigeria women are marginalized while men are givengreater
opportunities to advance. She stressed that women are hindered progressing through
discrimination on the basis of gender, early marriage and childbearing. Consequently, they are
denied sound education, job opportunities and are incapacitated generally by the society. Women
therefore become less exposed or experienced and less competent in areas that need high
degree of skills, intelligence and extensive training such as engineering, medicine and astronomy
Stereotype and gender discrimination could be responsible for unequal and low
representation of women in public and private organization in Nigeria. For instance, only few
women were found in highly professionalized careers such as medicine, engineering, law.
accounting and architecture. Okolo (1985) noted that in 1982 out of 8,350 lawyers in Nigeria
only 1005 (12.04%) were women and out of 204 high court judges in 1983 only 12 (3.94%) were
women. Awe (1990) observed that in Nigeria less than 5 per cent of hank managers were
women and less than 4.5 per cent of them were below the level of middle manager while just 1
(One) per cent of them were middle and divisional managers. The Abstract of Statistics (AAS.,
1997) indicated that in 1992, only 45,881 females against 145,448 males were in the service of
federal ministries in Nigeria. In (1993, the federal civil service employed only 47,426 females as
against 149,645 males. In 1992/93 academic session, 80 female professors as against 1,315
male professors were in Nigerian Universities.
Umar (1996) explained that in any traditional Nigerian community it is believed that the
place of the girl-child and subsequently women, is the lichen or at home and she is socialized into
accepting her traditional roles of bearing and rearing children and of maintaining the welfare of
the family. Thus, women are seen as weaker sex who could not perform at equal level with their
male counterparts. They are denied opportunities to display their talents and potentials Uwe
(1999) warned that a group that is stigmatized as lazy or incompetent may not be hired by
employers of labour even if they have the necessary qualifications and abilities.
Divergent views have been expressed on the issue of gender performance at work.
Broverman, Brovermen. Clarkson, Rosenkrantz and vegal (1970) conducted a study on the sex-
role characteristics of matured, health.,, and socially competent adults. The study indicated that
both men and women agreed that competence was more characteristic of healthy male
respondents than healthy females. Healthy women were different from healthy men because
they Were submissive, less independent, less adventurous, less objective, more easily
influenced, less aggressive, less competent, more emotional, more Concerned about their
appearance and more prone to having their feelings hurt. Similarly Maccoby and J acklin (1974)
observed gender differences between boys and girls in four major areas viz:(a) verbal ability (b)
visual and special ability; (c) mathematical ability; and (d) aggressiveness.
Hartman (1988) investigated the impact of occupation and sex on sex role-stereotyping.
Among the findings of the study are that high job performance was perceived to be more related
to masculine than feminine gender and that men were seen as more powerful than women.
Similarly, good performance was also viewed as more related to men than women. However,
Champion, Kurth, Hastings and Harris (1984) noted that many of the characteristics that were
associated with being male or female reflect cultural beliefs and practices rather than
fundamental differences. They noted that people were taught gender roles at early stage of their
lives and these roles reflect the status or position that they are expected to play. This assertion
was supported by Uwe (1999) who found that male and female workers did not differ significantly
in their vocational orientation within the realistic, investigative, enterprising and conforming
vocational groups. Also, Scheresky (1976) studied personality characteristics and skills of
subjects in different occupations. The study revealed that the prestige level of various personal
characteristics, including gender, associated with occupation were frequently cross-culturally
stereotyped. Similarly, Knudson (1982) studied whether women trained in management were as
assertive and as competent in their jobs as men with similar training. The results of the study
indicated that women were as assertive as men and performed equally well on their jobs as their
men counterparts.
Another factor that could be employed to determine the suitability of people especially job
seekers or employees is behaviour pattern. Behaviour pattern is the classification of people into
Type A and Type B groups using their behavioural characteristics. Type A is a behaviour pattern
characterized by a sense of time urgency, a desire to achieve more in less time, a high need for
achievement, insecurity (e.g. low level of confidence) and general hostility (e.g aggressiveness).
On the other hand. Type B behaviour pattern is characterized by unaggressiveness, confidence,
being easy going and less competitiveness (Andrew and Szilagyi, 1981).
Several studies such as Dembroski and Mac-Dougal (1978) and Burke and Weir (1980)
have been conducted on job performance of Type A and B employees but the findings are
inconclusive. For instance. Dembroski and Mac-Dougall (1978) found that Type A individuals
preferred to work alone and that they also desired to perform more tasks than the Type B
subjects. These characteristics could be responsible for the intense job involvement and job
overhead problems that characterized Type A work environment. Similarly. Burke and Weir
(1980) found that Type A supervisors supervised more subordinates than Type B supervisors.
According to Dembroski and Mac-Dougal (1978). Type A behaviour pattern is culturally rewarded
and it is generally believed that success in modern world is impossible without manifesting Type
A behaviour pattern. Thus, attempt to modify Type A behaviour disposition could be difficult due
to people's belief that there is a relationship between a behaviour type and personal success
(Streufert, Streufert & Denson. 1985).
Streufert et al (1985) conducted a study on Type A behaviour pattern and task
performance, hi two separate experiments, 25 and 42 adult working males participated in a visual
- motor task modelled on a video game. The study revealed that Type A coronary-prone
behaviour did not contribute to differences in visual motor performance. It was also found that the
frequently voiced assumption of Type A individuals that their behaviour patterns led to higher
performance was not supported. Thus, in the absence of any performance differences between
Type A and B subjects in quite divergent tasks, the researchers concluded that the popularly cited
relationship between Type A style and success was likely to be an assumption that might have
little or no evidence in reality (Streufert et al, 1985).
Due to the divergent and inconclusive findings on the influence of gender and behaviour
patterns on job performance, this study examined the influence of these variables on the job
performance of the federal civil servants in Nigeria.

Problem of the Study
Gender and behaviour patterns arc fundamental cultural criteria in categorizing the
human species. Consequently, the categorization or stereotype could be detrimental if not
properly studied and handled since it could lead to job discrimination or denial of opportunities.
The problem of the study therefore is to investigate the influence or otherwise of gender
differences and behaviour pattern s on job performance of federal Civil Servant in Nigeria.

Hypotheses
Two null hypotheses were formulated for this study:
(1) There is no significant difference in the job performance of male and female federal civil
servants.
(2) There is no significant difference in the job performance of Type A and Type B federal civil
servants.


Significance of the Study
This study would enrich the few local literature that are presently available (locally) on
gender, behaviour patterns and job performance. Also, this study would help professionals such
as guidance counsellors, career officers and employers of labour to know whether or not gender
and behaviour patterns have impact on job performance.

Methodology
Research Design
The research design adopted for this study is the descriptive survey method. According
to Hassan (1995). the design attempts to provide an accurate description or a picture of a
particular situation or a phenomenon at one or more points in time. Similarly, Best (1981) noted
that the approach enables a researcher to obtain information from a representative sample of a
population in order to describe the situation as the\ exist from where The researcher could infer
the perception of the entire population.

Sample and Sampling Technique
The target population for the study consists of all federal civil servants (in federal
ministries) in Nigeria. The samples comprise 675 federal civil servants in Nigeria. The samples
were drawn from the federal civil servants in Abuja, tile federal capital of Nigeria and six states,
and one each from the six geo-political zones contained in the 1999 Federal Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. The six selected states from the six zones are Borno, Kano, Kwara,
Lagos, Rivers and Enugu representing North-hast, North West, North Central (Middle-Belt),
South-West. South-South and South-East respectively. Of the twenty-five federal ministries in
Nigeria, twenty-one were covered by the study. Three ministries were drawn from Abuja and
three from each of the six selected states. Stratified random sampling am) pro-rata sampling
procedures were employed to select 675 subjects from the twenty one ministries and this is made
up of 456 (67.6%) males and 219 (314'M females.
Instrumentation
Two main instruments were employed in collecting data for the study. The first is the
Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER). The instrument (APER) was adapted from the
APER Form designed by the federal civil service commission of Nigeria to assess the
performance of federal Civil servants of Grade Levels 03 and above. The adapted instrument
consists of two sections; section one seeks personal information (e.g. age and sex). Section two
comprises twenty-eight items on the six major facets of job performance namely general ability,
effectiveness of communications, human relations, character traits, work habits and leadership
attainment. All the twenty-eight items were drawn from Part III of the Federal Civil Services
designed APER form and the officers being reported on, the reporting officers and a superior
officers were required to endorse the adapted instrument to ensure valid reporting. The
equivalent form method was applied and it established a reliability coefficient of 0.61, The
content validity of the adapted instrument was deemed adequate and appropriate by a panel of
six experts in the areas of field appraisal, public administration and applied psychology,
The second instrument is Employee Behaviour Pattern Survey (EBEPS). EBEPS was
adapted from the Nigerian Managers' Behaviour Pattern Survey (NIMABERS) designed by
Adeoye (1991). The reliability of KBEPS was established with the use of tesi-re-test reliability
procedure. The instrument was administered twice to a group of twenty randomly selected
Federal employees in the (Federal) Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Ilorin. The test-re-test
scores of the re-pondents were correlated and a Pearsonian correlation coefficient of 0.65 was
obtained. The validity of the instrument was determined through content validity procedure.

Method of Data Analysis
In analysing the collected data, each respondent's score on each of the two instruments
was computed and compared on the basis of gender and behaviour patterns. The t-test statistic
was applied to compare the means of male and female as well as Type A and Type B
respondents on the measure of job performance. A live per cent alpha level was used to
determine the confirmation or non-confirmation of the two null hypotheses formulated.

Results
Table 1 and 2 present the results of the analysis of the findings with respect to each of
the two null hypotheses.

Hypothesis One
There is no significant difference in the job performance oj male and female federal civil
servants.
Table 1: Means, Standard Deviation and t-values of J ob Performance of male and Female
Respondents.
Paired N X SD DF Calculated Critical t-
Group t- value value
Male 456 75.21 13.94
673 1.69 1.96
Female 219 73.34 13.69

The results in fable 1 show the means and the standard deviation of male and female
respondents on the measure of job performance. The table indicates a calculated t-value of I 69
and a critical t-value of 1.96. Since the calculated t-value is less than the critical t-value the null
hypothesis one is confirmed at 0.05 alpha level.

Hypothesis Two
There is no significant difference in the job performance of Type A and B federal
civil servants.


Table 2: Means, Standard Deviations and t-values of job Performance of Type A and B
Respondents.
Paired N X SD DF Calculated Critical
Group t-value value
Type A 444 75.27 13.96
673 1.61 1.96
Type B 231 73.45 13.68
Table 2 presents the means, and the standard deviations of Type A and B
respondents on the measure of job performance. The table indicates a calculated t-value of 1.61
and a critical t-value of 1.96. The calculated t-value is less than the critical t-value thus; the null
hypothesis two is confirmed at 0.05 alpha level.

Discussion
The main thrust of this paper was to investigate the influence of gender and behaviour
patterns (Type A and B) on the job performance of Federal Civil Servants in Nigeria. The results
indicated that gender had no significant influence on respondents' job performance. This finding
contradicts the results of a study conducted by Hartman (1988), which showed that men were
seen as more powerful than women and that good performance was viewed as a male
characteristic. Also, Yammarino and Dubinsky (1988) found gender and job differences in their
study of the influence of gender on performance. However, the present findings agree with those
of Kundson (1982), which stated that women were as able as men if given similar exposure. The
probable explanation for these findings could arise from the fact that federal civil servants in
Nigeria are usually recruited on the basis of similar criteria and employees are exposed to similar
job experiences irrespective of religion, gender and ethnic groupings. Also, federal employees
are mostly assigned to duties not on the basis of sex but their qualifications, job experience and
competencies.
The responses of Type A and Type B federal civil servants were compared on the
measure of job performance. The results of this study indicated that there was no significant
difference in the job performance of the two groups of respondents. These findings contradict
those of Helmereich and Spence (1978) and Mathews, Helmereich, Beanie and Lucker (1980)
which found that Type A adults in contrast to their Type B counterparts received more rewards
from their work due to high level of job performance. The present findings, however, support the
results of a study carried out by Streufert, Streufert and Denson (1985). which found that Type A
behaviour pattern, did not contribute to differences in visual and motor performance. The
researchers explained that the frequently voiced assumption that Type A individual are better
than Type B in performance has not been scientifically proved

Conclusion
From the findings of this investigation, it was concluded that gender and behaviour
patterns had no significant influence on respondents' job performance. The study disputed the
stereotypic view that employees performed better in their jobs on the basis of gender and
behaviour pattern.

Counselling Implications of The Findings
This study has revealed that gender and behaviour patterns have no significant influence
on job performance as competence and efficiency depend on training and experiences.
Counsellors should therefore organize seminar and symposia to educate the employers of labour
on the need to give male and female equal educational and on-the-job training opportunities. This
would equip both male and female genders and provide them the opportunity to contribute their
quota to national development.
Guidance and Counselling services should be made available in all areas of human
organisations such as private and public organisations. Provision of counselling services in
ministries and other organisations would bring guidance and counselling programmes to the door
steps of individuals who require the assistance of qualified counsellors due to one behavioural
concern or the other.
The Counselling Association of Nigeria should organise seminar, workshops,
conferences, seminars and symposia to consciously educate Nigerians on the dangers in sex
stereotype and other forms of discrimination (e.g. religious, personal and ethnic biases) against
women and other exceptional groups.

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