Examining Gender and Management Decisions: A Focus Group Study on Gender and Decision Behavior in Donald Trump’s The Apprentice

Abstract

Management decisions are a key factor in driving management’s control of valuable resources. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of gender and its role in termination decisions. This research is the result of a four-year study on management decisions on termination in Donald Trump’s The Apprentice. This crosstab analysis was conducted with three independent focus groups using The Apprentice. This study is a continuation of a pilot study conducted on The Apprentice [1]. For conducting the focus group studies, a two-phase protocol was implemented to examine the role of gender on termination decisions.  A sample of (N=299) participants were used for the focus groups. The participants viewed various episodes of The Apprentice and were administered a survey based on their observations and decisions. The research design used an independent sample t-Test, cross tabulation and ANOVA. The results indicate there were some significant gender differences with firing individuals based on viewing the television show. Between males and females, male participants’ mean and standard deviations were higher. Furthermore, the crosstabs analysis indicated a significant correlation between gender and termination decisions use.