Unique and Joint Effects of Sexual and Racial Harassment on College Students' Well-Being

An analysis is presented of issues involved in the differences noted between female and male leaders of mixed-sex groups. After surveying some of the different types of reactions of followers of both sexes to female or male leaders, this paper calls attention to such contributing factors as the nature of the group task, attitudes of leader and followers toward appropriate sex roles, and the criterion measures used. Implications for future research are derived and discussed.     

The evaluation of effectiveness and likability of gender-role congruent and gender-role incongruent leaders

The aim of the present study was to test the gender-role congruency hypothesis in the context of assumed leadership. Three hundred and forty-two female and 154 male Dutch students participated in a laboratory experiment. We expected that gender-role incongruent leaders would be evaluated less favorably than gender-role congruent leaders and that male subjects would devalue the gender-role incongruent leaders to a greater extent than would female subjects. In addition, we were interested in the relative contribution of the effectiveness and likability measures to the devaluation of gender-role incongruent leaders. The gender-role congruency hypothesis was supported by the data from male subjects only, and then only for the effectiveness measures. The results are discussed in the context of two meta-analyses concerning the impact of gender stereotypes on judgments of competence and evaluation of leaders.     

Visibility and evaluation of female and male leaders

Visibility and evaluation of female and male leaders were assessed as a function of follower sex, performance level, and rater sex by having subjects view videotapes of interacting triads. Subjects identified persons exhibiting leadership behaviors as leaders regardless of experimental condition. Performance level had significant main effects on six of seven leader evaluation measures, with leaders of high-performing groups being rated more leaderlike, dominant, intelligent, competent, industrious, and supportive. Although female leaders were equally visible and were evaluated the same as male leaders, the probability of continued success was seen as lower for groups with female leaders of all-female or all-male followers. Results were interpreted as an indication that relevant behavioral data can mitigate stereotypic perceptions and evaluations in the individual case, but that current evaluations of female leaders may fail to generalize to future performance expectancies.     

Females in charge: Effects of sex of subordinate and romantic attachment status upon self-ratings of dominance

Female, male, and mixed-sex dyads in which one member was assigned the leader role interacted and rated their own dominance throughout the interaction. The effects of gender and romantic attachment status (whether one has an exclusive dating partner or is “unattached” and free to go out with someone new) upon these self-ratings of dominance within the interaction were examined. The results showed that both leaders and subordinates perceived female leaders to be less dominant than male leaders. In addition, members of mixed-sex pairs rated themselves as less dominant than did those in same-sex pairs. Female leaders paired with males rated themselves least dominant and unattached female leaders interacting with males rated themselves least dominant of all. Female subordinates rated themselves as less dominant when with male leaders than when with female leaders, while the effect of the gender of the leader was insignificant for male subordinates. The results are discussed as evidence of a role conflict created by the contradictory roles of “dominant” leader and “subordinate” female, roles described by the sex role stereotypes prevalent in our culture.     

领导者性别身份的评价差异：基于内隐领导理论的实证分析

本研究基于内隐领导理论,运用配对问卷法,探究领导者性别身份的三种评价差异：自我评价与下属评价的差异,男性领导与女性领导的下属评价差异,男性下属与女性下属的评价差异。结果显示,与领导者自评的性别身份相比,下属易高估领导者的男性化;且下属评价男性领导的男性化显著高于女性化,而评价女性领导时两者并不存在显著差异。此外,男性下属对领导男性化的评价高于女性下属的评价。     

Male versus female leaders: A comparison of empirical studies

One of the popular reasons given for differential treatment of women in management stems from stereotyping females as ineffective leaders. Thirty-two female leadership studies were reviewed. Trait, style, and contingency leadership theories were used as a framework to analyze the studies. The trait studies consistently supported the traditional attitude that women lack adequate leadership characteristics. Both style and contingency studies were split as to whether women were effective or ineffective leaders. Most student studies supported the commonly held beliefs about women's leadership style and effectiveness. On the other hand, managerial studies did not support the typical female stereotyping; this suggests the possibility of a socializing process modifying practicing managers' attitudes towards women, and it also raises a question about the validity of stereotyping as a discriminatory causal factor in managerial environments. Before more conclusive statements can be made, further sex-related leadership research controlling for subjects and methodology is suggested.     

Influence of sex differences in leaders' behavior

Sex differences in influence tactics were examined with a sample of 269 followers (67 men, 202 women) at a large midwestern national insurance company who rated the downward influence tactics used by their direct supervisors. Downward influence tactics are behaviors used by leaders to gain compliance from followers. One department within the organization was identified as a source for participants in the study. Participation was voluntary. The age range for the sample was 21 to 65 years, with the largest percentage falling in the 40-49 year range (M = 3.8, SD = .8). Hierarchical linear modeling procedures were utilized to analyze the multiple level data (leader and follower) and to examine variables within the organization at different levels of analysis. Leader participants were asked to solicit their followers to complete an influence tactic measure, which consisted of the most reliable subscales taken from the Influence Behavior Questionnaire, Schriesheim and Hinkin Influence Measure, and the Profiles of Organizational Influence Strategies. The integrated measure resulted in a 45-item scale. It was hypothesized that, overall, followers would report that male leaders would use hard influence tactics more frequently than female leaders. On the other hand, followers would report that female leaders would use soft influence tactics more frequently than male leaders. When differentiating followers by sex, however, we expected that male followers would report more than female followers that their leaders use hard tactics more frequently. Also, we expected that female followers would report (more than male followers) that their leaders use soft tactics more frequently. Overall, followers reported that male leaders used significantly more personal appeal and consultation, so called "soft tactics," with their followers than did female leaders. Female followers reported that their leaders (both male and female) used consultation and inspirational appeal more frequently. In contrast, male followers reported that their leaders used exchange, so called "hard tactics," more frequently.     

Relational Spirituality,Mature Alterity,and Spiritual Service among Ministry Leaders: An Empirical Study

Christian communities in the United States increasingly are debating sociopolitical issues and the relevance of social justice and cultural diversity to Christian spirituality. The present study investigated connections between spiritual maturity, mature alterity, spiritual service, and spiritual leadership in a predominantly female and ethnically diverse sample of Christian ministry leaders (N = 115) in the United States. Spiritual maturity was operationalized based on a relational spirituality model using measures representing dwelling- and seeking-oriented dimensions. Spiritual service was assessed through (a) sanctification of service and (b) a differentiated posture of listening to the struggles of others. Results showed both measures of spiritual maturity were significantly and positively related to social justice commitment, differentiated listing, and intercultural competence (the latter among female but not male ministry leaders) over and above effects for age and spiritual impression management. A dwelling-oriented measure of spiritual maturity was positively associated with the sanctification of leadership service, whereas a seeking-oriented measure of spiritual maturity showed a modest positive association with spiritual leadership. Spiritual leadership was unrelated to measures of mature alterity. Findings are discussed with respect to limitations, future psychological research, and theological implications for postcolonial pastoral leadership and spirituality.

     

Another look at gender-related differences in leadership behavior

This investigation examined self-related behavioral differences in terms of broad leadership styles using a methodology that minimized biases inherent in research designs previously employed to investigate this area. Subjects consisted of 40 males and 41 females who served in the role of leader, and who instructed both a male and a female subordinate in a card-sorting task. Experimental sessions were tape-recorded and transcribed, after which judges classified word phrases into various language categories. Factor analysis of the language categories yielded two factors of verbal behavior within a leadership situation: a socially oriented style and a task-oriented style. In contrast to generally accepted stereotypes, results indicated that within the present experimental context male leaders preferred to use phrases that indicated a more social style than female leaders. However, both male and female leaders used language that indicated a task-oriented approach to a significantly greater degree when instructing a female rather than a male subordinate. Implications and interpretations of the results are discussed.     

Equity vs equality: Sex differences in leadership

The present study investigated differences between male and female leaders' responses to poorly performing subordinates. Ninety-four male and 94 female leaders were presented with a vignette describing an incident of poor performance that occurred in a distribution center. The subordinate in the vignette was either male or female, likable or dislikable, and performed poorly due to internal or external factors. Leaders studied the vignette and then rated the appropriateness of a series of corrective actions. Analyses indicated that the corrective actions of female leaders were more affected by the likableness and sex of the subordinate than were the corrective actions of male leaders. The results support the proposition that male leaders tend to respond to subordinates based upon a norm of equity, while female leaders respond to subordinates based upon a combination of equity and equality. Implications of the findings for management training and organizational effectiveness are discussed.     

Psychological type and sex differences among church leaders in the United Kingdom

A sample of 135 female and 164 male church leaders of mixed denominations completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The female church leaders demonstrated clear preferences for extraversion over introversion, for sensing over intuition, for feeling over thinking, and for judging over perceiving. The male church leaders demonstrated clear preferences for introversion over extraversion, for sensing over intuition, for thinking over feeling, and for judging over perceiving. The predominant type among the women was ESFJ (22%) and the predominant type among the men was ISTJ (30%). Extravert and feeling types were significantly overrepresented among female church leaders, compared with male church leaders.     

Is Transformational Leadership Always Perceived as Effective? Male Subordinates' Devaluation of Female Transformational Leaders1

This study investigated the impact of the gender composition of the leader–subordinate dyad on the relationship between leaders' transformational leadership behavior and their subordinates' ratings of the leaders' effectiveness. There were 109 dyads of leaders (58 male, 51 female) paired with a subordinate who was either the same or a different gender from themselves. The relationship between a leader's self‐report on transformational leadership and their subordinates' evaluation of their performance was significantly less positive for female leaders with male subordinates than for female leaders with female subordinates. The male and female subordinates of male leaders rated their performance as equally effective, regardless of their levels of transformational leadership.     

Gender,Leadership Orientation,and Effectiveness: Testing the Theoretical Models of Bolman & Deal and Quinn

This study examined the differences in gender between a “balanced” or “unbalanced” orientation of leadership, leadership characteristics, and the perceived effectiveness of educational leaders through subordinate responses in the context of Bolman and Deal's (1991, 1997) four-frame leadership theory and Quinn's (1988) competing values model. The findings suggest that any differences in the perceived effectiveness of educational leaders in the three leadership type groups are equally true for male and female leaders, and that male and female educational leaders were perceived to be equally effective in their respective organizations despite the stereotypical connotations asserted in previous research. In addition, no significant differences were found between men and women in their leadership characteristics, which stands in contrast to extant research-supported evidence. This study analyzed the ratings of 57 leaders (males = 31; females = 26) by 472 subordinate participants (males = 234; females = 238) from lower, middle, and upper management levels in secondary and postsecondary institutions. Approximately 60% of the participants and one third of the educational leaders were African Americans.     

Gender Differences in Leadership Styles as a Function of Leader and Subordinates' Sex and Type of Organization

The main purpose of this study is to investigate gender differences in leadership styles and in organizational outcome variables, together with the influence of organizational/contextual variables on leadership styles in female and male participants in Spain. The sample comprised 226 participants (35 leaders and 191 subordinates) belonging to 35 work teams. The general findings show that only 2 of the 10 tested leadership styles are different for female and male leaders. Specifically, subordinates rate female leaders as more autocratic and negotiating than men, and this evaluation varies according to the subordinates' sex. We also found that some differences in the rating of female and male leaders depend on whether the organization is stereotypically feminine or masculine.     

Gender differences in evaluation of performance and leadership ability: Autocratic vs. democratic managers

This laboratory experiment involved 290 undergraduate seniors (130 females and 160 males) who were taking the capstone course in business policy in the college of business at a large university. The population of business seniors from which the random sample was drawn consisted of approximately 3.7% African Americans, 7% Asians, 1% Hispanics, and 88.3% white Americans. The study investigated the impact of autocratic and democratic leadership styles on the perception of how well male and female managers perform as well as the leadership ability attributions made to them. It was found that, in general, democratic managers are perceived to be much higher performers, and superior leaders when compared to autocratic managers. There was some support for the gender contrast effect in that the autocratic female managers were perceived to be higher performers than autocratic male managers. Further, the study found support for the perceptual similarity thesis. Male subjects tended to evaluate other male managers higher while female subjects were partial to female managers in their evaluations. In particular, female subjects gave autocratic male managers very low evaluations on performance and judged them to be inferior leaders. The female subjects, however, gave female autocratic managers substantially higher evaluations in terms of both performance and leadership ability.     

Status incongruity and backlash effects: Defending the gender hierarchy motivates prejudice against female leaders

Agentic female leaders risk social and economic penalties for behaving counter-stereotypically (i.e., backlash; Rudman, 1998), but what motivates prejudice against female leaders? The status incongruity hypothesis (SIH) proposes that agentic women are penalized for status violations because doing so defends the gender hierarchy. Consistent with this view, Study 1 found that women are proscribed from dominant, high status displays (which are reserved for leaders and men); Studies 2–3 revealed that prejudice against agentic female leaders was mediated by a dominance penalty; and in Study 3, participants' gender system-justifying beliefs moderated backlash effects. Study 4 found that backlash was exacerbated when perceivers were primed with a system threat. Study 5 showed that only female leaders who threatened the status quo suffered sabotage. In concert, support for the SIH suggests that backlash functions to preserve male dominance by reinforcing a double standard for power and control.     

When the Sales Manager is a Woman: An Exploration into the Relationship Between Salespeople's Gender and their Responses to Leadership Styles

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study comparing the responsiveness of male versus female salespersons to differing leadership styles of female sales managers. Responding triads, made up of one female sales manager and two subordinate salespersons (one male and one female), completed questionnaires assessing the managers' leadership style, the salespersons' satisfaction with supervision, and the salespersons' selling performance. Partial correlational analysis revealed gender differences in the way satisfaction with supervision and performance effectiveness related to the female managers' leadership styles. Male sales force members were most responsive to leaders who displayed individualized consideration and used a transactional style (contingent rewards or management by exception). Saleswomen preferred charismatic leaders and those who were capable of intellectually stimulating methods. The results are discussed and recommendations made for future research.