Men more likely to complain, but women get better results

SYDNEY - When it comes to complaining, women do it best and are more likely to be financially compensated than men, according to research in Australia.

Professor Charmine Hartel, director of the centre for business research at Deakin University's faculty of business and law, said while women were more successful, men were more likely to complain.

As a result, women tended to be more satisfied than men in the way their complaint was handled.

Professor Hartel said her research with Dr Rebekah Bennett at the Queensland University of Technology showed the most likely explanation was that women complained only when they felt compensation was deserved.

"We think that women actually hold back from making a complaint until they are sure that they have a complete case, that they definitely are in the right and that they definitely will win it," Professor Hartel told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"So when women come into the process of complaining, they are not just jumping in, which is what the men tended to do.

"Gender stereotypes suggest that women tend to be more emotional and men more problem-focused, but in fact our research shows that both tend to use emotion-focused coping styles during a complaint."

She said results were similar to earlier research on negotiating in the workplace, which found men were more likely to push harder when negotiating for a pay rise.

"Women think about both parties, so they ask themselves, 'What will be fair to the other person and fair to me?"' The survey was conducted with 454 people who complained to a Queensland Government department.

On average women received $A823 ($891) in compensation; the men $A469.

The study also found that satisfaction with the way a complaint was handled rested on the outcome, not the sum.

- NZPA