Most women can recall at least one occasion when a stubborn partner or father has refused to ask for directions, resulting in an infuriatingly lengthy car journey or painfully long hike.

Now researchers have revealed why most men have an aversion to asking for directions – they are judged harshly for it.

Lost men who ask for help are seen as being less competent and poor leaders, a study claims.

Researchers have revealed why most men have an aversion to asking for directions - they are judged harshly for it. Lost men (illustrated with a stock picture) who ask for help are seen as being less competent, a study claims

‘Men don’t ask for directions because they’re concerned they’re going to look bad,’ Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, Associate Professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, told The Huffington Post.

In contrast, she explained that women are expected to ask, because it fits with gender stereotypes that females are more helpless than men.

While there have been numerous studies claiming that women are penalised at work for acting like men and being assertive, this study, published in The Leadership Quarterly, seems to suggest that men are penalised for acting in what is perceived to be a more feminine way.

‘It’s not just women who have a burden about managing perceptions,’ Professor Rosette said.

For the study, which focused on office life, researchers from Duke, as well as the University of Pittsburgh and the University of San Diego surveyed 144 students from a high-flying business school that had attended leadership skill courses.

‘Men don’t ask for directions because they’re concerned they’re going to look bad,’ Ashleigh Shelby Rosette of Duke University said, adding that women are expected to ask, because it fits with gender stereotypes that females are more helpless than men. A stock image of women asking for directions is pictured

THE 276-MILE PRICE MEN PAY FOR NOT ASKING DIRECTIONS Research by insurance firm Sheilas’ Wheels found that men clock up an average of 276 miles (444km) a year driving aimlessly around without asking for directions. More than a quarter of men wait at least half an hour before asking for directions, with a stubborn 12 per cent refusing any help at all, according to the 2010 poll. The lost drive time costs men up to £2,000 in petrol over a lifetime. The poll also revealed that 34 per cent of all drivers would rather ask a woman than a man for directions. Almost three quarters of women have no qualms about asking for directions, with 37 per cent saying they pull over as soon as they realise they are lost, compared with 30 per cent of men. But 40 per cent of men polled said that even if they were to ask a stranger for directions, they wouldn't always trust or follow them. Advertisement

These included outings to climb volcanoes and mountains, where a leader planned the day.

Attendees were quizzed afterwards to find out whether the leader had asked for help and how they felt about this.

The researchers also ran a lab-based experiment in which volunteers were asked to imagine they worked at an imaginary company and to judge the competence of their boss, based on a description of one meeting.

The examples varied by changing the sex of the boss and whether he or she asked for directions or not.

In both experiments, men who asked for help were perceived to be worse leaders, but this didn’t affect what people thought of female bosses.

The study says: ‘In a field setting, Study 1 showed that seeking help was negatively related to perceived competence for male (but not female) leaders.

‘In an experimental setting, Study 2 showed that this effect was not moderated by leadership style or a gender-specific context.’

Despite the findings, Professor Rosette said: ‘We are starting to value the feminisation of management, and relationship skills - to know and nurture your employers and not just to talk at your employees’.

In 2012, an explorer and master of 'natural navigation' called Tristan Gooley, claimed that men don’t ask for directions because they need to stick to their 'original system' such as a map or set of directions - even if it isn’t working.

For the study, which focused on office life, researchers surveyed 144 students from a high-flying business school that had attended leadership skill courses. These included outings to climb volcanoes and mountains (illustrated with a stock image) and skiing, where a leader was planned the day

Being forced to accept the system is broken makes men flustered, he claimed, causing them to speed up in an attempt to avoid, or fix the situation.

However, he said that women are happier to use all available resources to each a goal - including asking for help.

He told The Telegraph that he has noticed the different approaches while running courses on the use for astronomy for orientation.

When shown a picture of a house with a low sun beside it, men struggled to tell whether the sun was rising or setting, for example.

This is because they relied on a 'system' taught by the explorer.

Women realised it must be setting because the lights in the house were on and concluded nobody puts all the light on at the start of the day, Mr Gooley explained.