The Instantaneity of Gendered Voice Assistant Technology and Manager Perceptions of Subordinate Help

Voice assistants are interactive technologies that supply information and perform tasks in response to voice commands from human users. The past decade has seen a rapid rise in the usage of voice assistants for work. However, the implications of these technologies for workplace outcomes remain poorly understood. In this paper, we examined how the usage of these instantaneous, gendered technologies influenced managerial perceptions of subordinate helping behaviors. We conducted our examination across three studies—a qualitative pilot study, an experimental study in the lab, and a workplace scenario study in the field. In our pilot study, we learned how managers used voice assistants, and developed a novel task for manipulating voice assistant usage in the lab. Across our lab study (Study 1) and workplace scenario study (Study 2), we found consistent evidence that female voice assistant usage biased perceptions of helping behaviors by female subordinates. In the short-term, individuals expected more immediate help and communicated more immediacy in their requests for help from female versus male subordinates. In the long-term, individuals communicated more impersonally with female versus male subordinates, and penalized female versus male subordinates more harshly when they failed to provide help. Male voice assistant usage did not induce the same consistent bias against male subordinates.