The role of gender in paradoxes associated with smartphone use by Brazilian executives

Abstract

Studies have claimed that smartphone has generated both positive and negative consequences associated with its use by executives, who are most of the time unaware of them. Moreover, the influence of gender on the emergence of paradoxes accrued from smartphone use is something new in the Information Systems realm. Thus, this article aims at probing the role of gender in the emergence of paradoxes associated with smartphone use by Brazilian executives. A quantitative and qualitative methodological approach is then undertaken involving male and female executives in Brazil. The results point out that the gender variable does indeed influence the way executives in Brazil perceive the paradoxes accrued from the use of smartphones, as from the fourteen paradoxes set forth, six were perceived by female executives, whereas only four of them were perceived by male executives. Besides that, women perceive a higher ambiguity level in the paradoxes than men.