No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The Relationship among Leadership Style, Sex of Leader, and Sex of Evaluator in the Evaluation of Leadership Behavior
Abstract
The purpose of the article was to investigate the relationships among leadership style, sex of leader, and sex of evaluator in the evaluation of leadership behavior in a student sample from Turkey. In order to reach the goal, leadership style and sex of leader were manipulated to prepare four vignettes as autocratic female leader, democrat female leader, autocratic male leader, and democrat male leader. The participants were 386 university students from Middle East Technical University (199 males and 187 females; M=21.74; SD=1.56). After reading one of the vignettes, the participants evaluated the leader by filling out the Evaluation of Leadership Behavior Scale. A 2 (sex of leader: female - male) X 2 (leadership style: autocratic - democrat) X 2 (sex of evaluator: female - male) ANOVA was performed on the evaluation of leadership behavior. Results demonstrated that there was a significant main effect of leadership style. As expected, participants evaluated democratic leader more positively than autocratic leader. In addition, there was a significant two-way interaction between leadership style and sex of evaluator, suggesting that male participants evaluated democratic leader less positively than female participants and that male participants evaluated autocratic leader more positively than female participants. Finally, there was a significant three-way interaction. Both male and female participants evaluated autocratic female leader more negatively than democratic female leader. Further, as compared to male participants, female participants evaluated both democratic male leader and democratic female leader more positively.
... Curr Psychol different settings have demonstrated that democratic and transformational leaders, and leaders who use soft power bases are evaluated more positively than autocratic and transactional leaders who use harsh power bases, and the subsequent evaluations of satisfaction and performance are usually significantly higher and more positive (Ayman et al., 2009;Elias, 2007;Uğurlu & Hovardaoğlu, 2011;Wang, Chiang, Tsai, Lin, & Cheng, 2013). ...
Using a sample of 650 Turkish white collars, this study examines the joint effects of leader power bases, and leader’s and subordinate’s gender on perceived leader effectiveness. The study investigates the conditions under which a male or a female leader is perceived to be (in)effective given the use of two different bases of power. According to empirical findings, male leaders are evaluated more favorably even when they display gender-deviant leadership behavior by exercising soft power, and male subordinates’ disfavor of female leaders who violate role expectations is still a continuing phenomenon.
Despite an increase in the number of womenmanagers, women frequently have difficulty advancing toupper levels of management. Researchers such as V . E.Schein [(1973), “The Relationship Between SexRole Stereotypes and Requisite ManagementCharacteristics,” Journal of Applied Psychology,Vol. 57, pp. 95-100; (1975) “Relationships BetweenSex Role Stereotypes and Requisite ManagementCharacteristics Among Female Managers,” Journal ofApplied Psychology, Vol. 60, pp. 340-344] and G. N.Powell and D. A. Butterfield [(1979), “The'Good Manager': Masculine orAndrogynous?" Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 22, pp. 395-403; (1989) “The'Good Manager': Did Androgyny Fare Better inthe 1980s?” Group and Organization Studies, Vol.14, pp. 216-233] have found that perceptions of womenare often incongruent with perceptions of successful managers, thegap particularly evident in male subjects [O. C.Brenner, J. Tomkiewicz, & V . E. Schein (1989);“The Relationship Between Sex Role Stereotypes andRequisite Management Characteristics Revisited,”Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 32, pp. 662-669; P.Dubno (1985) ”Attitudes Toward Women Executives:A Longitudinal Approach,” Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 28, pp. 235-239; M. E. Heilman,C. J. Black, R. F. Martell, & M. C. Simon (1989)”Has Anything Changed? Current Characterizationsof Men, Women, and Managers,” Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 74, pp. 935-942; O. Massengil& N. D. Marco (1979) ”Sex-Role Stereotypes andRequisite Management Characteristics: A CurrentReplication,” Sex Roles, Vol. 5, pp. 56-576; J.Tomkiewicz & T. Adeyemi-Bellow (1995) ”ACross-Sectional Analysis of Attitudes of Nigerians andAmericans Toward Women as Managers,” Journal ofSocial Behavior and Personality, Vol. 10, pp. 189-198].This study used 702 college student subjects (morethan 90% white, 58% female) to examine the effect ofsubject sex on perceptions of a target (male manager,female manager, prototypical manager), and found thatsubject sexhas a greater effect on the perceivedcharacteristics of a successful female manager than on theperceived characteristics of a prototypical successfulmanager or a successful male manager. Male and femalesubjects generally agree about the characteristics of a prototypical manager or a male manager,but differ in how they perceive a femalemanager.
Leadership categorization theory suggests that leaders who display characteristics and abilities that match observers' schematic conception of an effective leader will be more favorably evaluated than leaders who violate observers' leadership prototypes. In a test of this model, 92 male and 84 female subjects endorsing a number of different leadership prototypes were instructed to evaluate a male or female leader who acted in a task-oriented or socioemotional-oriented manner. In rating leader effectiveness, subjects showed a clear bias in favor of leaders who matched their particular prototypes, although males tended to base their ratings on prototypes more so than females.!n ratings of leader collegiality, however, prototype-based biases were noted only when subjects evaluated female leaders. These ratings were not always consistent with the predictions of leadership categorization theory. These findings suggest that biases against female leaders may stem, in part, from the incongruity between subordinates' leadership prototypes and stereotypical conceptions of men and women.
The relationship between sex role stereotypes and characteristics perceived as necessary for management success was examined among 497 male and 328 female management students in the U.S., Great Britain and Germany. Three forms of the 92-item Schein Descriptive Index were used to define sex role stereotypes and characteristics of successful managers. The results revealed that males in all three countries perceive that successful middle managers possess characteristics, attitudes and temperaments more commonly ascribed to men in general than to women in general. The pattern of results among females varied across cultures. German females sex type the managerial position to almost the same degree as the males. British females also sex type the managerial position, but to a lesser extent than their German counterparts. U.S. females do not sex type the managerial position, but see women and men as equally likely to possess characteristics necessary for managerial success. The implications of these outcomes for the advancement of women in management worldwide are discussed.
Past research has shown that when leader styles were dichotomized as autocratic versus democratic, female leaders were evaluated more harshly for using autocratic styles than their male counterparts (Eagly, Makhijani, & Klonsky, 1992). The present study investigated whether or not the personality characteristic of Agreeableness interacted with leader gender and leader style (autocratic versus democratic) to affect subordinate reactions to the leader. A 2 (autocratic versus democratic leader style) 2 (male versus female leader) 2 (high versus low subordinate Agreeableness) factorial design was used with leader evaluation, future effort, and future interest as dependent variables. A three-way interaction was predicted for these variables such that leaders would be penalized most for behavior that was inconsistent with gender roles by participants low in agreeableness. Participants were 165 undergraduates at a large midwestern urban university. Results generally supported the hypothesized three-way interaction for the effort and interest variables. Overall, the results partially supported the notion that disagreeable participants would rate gender inconsistent behavior more harshly.
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.
300 24-64 yr old male middle managers rated either women in general, men in general, or successful middle managers on 92 descriptive terms. Results confirm the hypothesis that successful middle managers are perceived to possess characteristics, attitudes, and temperaments more commonly ascribed to men in general than to women in general. There was a significant resemblance between the mean ratings of men and managers, whereas there was no resemblance between women and managers. Examination of mean rating differences among women, men, and managers on each of the items disclosed some requisite management characteristics which were not synonymous with the masculine sex-role stereotype. Implications of the demonstrated relationship for organizational behaviors are discussed. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
248 male supervisors rated 290 male and 272 female store managers, and 35 female supervisors rated 37 male and 38 female store managers; all Ss were with the same organization. Results show that female store managers were rated higher than male store managers by their supervisors. It is concluded that unfair treatment of women, to the extent that it does exist, does not seem to be a major factor in assessing managerial job performance. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record
The effects of rater source, rater and ratee race, rater and ratee sex, and job type were investigated on ratings collected for 8,642 first-term Army enlisted personnel. Ratings were made on 10 behaviorally based dimensions developed for evaluating all first-term soldiers. Results of between-subjects analyses similar to those conducted in past research revealed significant main effects and interactions for sex, race, rater source, and job type, but the variance accounted for by these effects was minimal. Repeated measures analyses were also performed, with each ratee evaluated by one Black and one White rater for the race effects analyses and one female and one male rater for the sex effects analyses. These analyses, which unconfounded rater bias and actual performance differences, yielded results similar to those obtained with the between-subjects design. Implications of the findings are discussed.
This article reviews research on the evaluation of women and men who occupy leadership roles. In these experiments, the characteristics of leaders other than their sex were held constant, and the sex of the leader was varied. These experiments thus investigated whether people are biased against female leaders and managers. Although this research showed only a small overall tendency for subjects to evaluate female leaders less favorably than male leaders, this tendency was more pronounced under certain circumstances. Specifically, women in leadership positions were devalued relative to their male counterparts when leadership was carried out in stereotypically masculine styles, particularly when this style was autocratic or directive. In addition, the devaluation of women was greater when leaders occupied male-dominated roles and when the evaluators were men. These and other findings are interpreted from a perspective that emphasizes the influence of gender roles within organizational settings.
The authors provide a cautionary note on reporting accurate eta-squared values from multifactor analysis of variance (ANOVA) designs. They reinforce the distinction between classical and partial eta-squared as measures of strength of association. They provide examples from articles published in premier psychology journals in which the authors erroneously reported partial eta-squared values as representing classical etasquared values. Finally, they discuss broader impacts of inaccurately reported etasquared values for theory development, meta-analytic reviews, and intervention programs.
Sex-role stereotyping of middle management and the nature of sex stereotypes were investigated in two culturally distinct student samples from Turkey and Sweden. Based on existing empirical and theoretical evidence it was hypothesized that there would be considerably less sex-role stereotyping of management in Sweden than in Turkey. Findings of this study were also compared with those reported by Schein and Mueller on US, British, and German samples. Consistent with previous research, the results indicated that there is a predominant male stereotype associated with successful middle management. Yet, unexpectedly, sex-role stereotyping was observed to be weaker among Turkish participants than Swedish participants. Finally, although the nature of sex stereotypes differed for the two countries, the profile of successful managers was similar.
The current article argues that taking subjective theories of both the rater and ratee into consideration contributes to a deeper understanding of leadership evaluations. In the present study, individuals' pre-existing implicit personality theory (Dweck, 1996) was measured in an organizational setting and was identified as a moderating variable for leadership assessments (108 participants). It was shown that when judging their managers, raters who believe in the ability to change and the dynamic nature of personality (“incremental theorists”) place significantly stronger weight on the situation and dynamic factors, while raters who believe in the stability of human characteristics (“entity theorists”) focus more strongly on their relationship to these people. Moreover, managers with entity theory are judged significantly more positively than managers with an incremental theory. In view of these findings, implications are derived for the measurement of leadership behaviour as well as information concerning the application of leadership behaviour in an organizational setting.
This study aimed to find out how frequently teachers at compulsory-education level school - primary and junior high schools - perceived that they would adopt various leadership styles in their schools if they were the principal and if this frequency was gender related. Data were collected from 321 teachers from compulsory-education schools by means of the Leadership Questionnaire (Bowers & Seashore, 1966) measuring four leadership styles - support, interaction facilitation, goal emphasis, and work facilitation. The questionnaire was translated and reliability analyses for teachers in Turkey were carried out. On average the teachers scored at a very high level for leadership style in goal emphasis; and at a high level in interaction facilitation, support and work facilitation. The highest score was for goal emphasis, the lowest for work facilitation. Men scored at higher levels than women did in all leadership styles. Suggestions are made about what should be done to achieve effective leadership in schools, to help teachers have a positive approach to more participative leadership styles, and to remove gender inequity among school principals and leaders.
Despite a recent increase in women holding managerial or leadership positions, women are still underrepresented in the highest levels in business and in the military. Sex of evaluator and sex of leader have often been found to be related to leadership recommendations. Conducted at the United States Naval Academy, this study examined whether sex of evaluator and the evaluator's gender role attitudes were related to recommendations for promotion of male or female Naval lieutenant. Participants included 69 male and 39 female midshipmen who had completed the Attitudes Toward Women Scale and the Male Masculinity Role Norm Scale several weeks prior to the experimental intervention. For the intervention, participants were assigned by sex to read a fitness report for either a male or female lieutenant and to rate the lieutenant for promotion and his or her leadership characteristics. Compared with female leaders, male leaders were perceived as having fewer leadership characteristics that had an emotional component. Regardless of the sex of the evaluator, support for promotion was positively related to emotional and positive leader characteristics and negatively related to perceived negative leader characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In Exp I, 161 female and 322 male undergraduates, graduate students, and managers indicated the level of subordinate participation they would encourage in 30 hypothetical decision-making situations. Females were more participative in leadership style than their male counterparts. The behavior of women was in greater agreement with the prescriptions of a normative model of decision making. The evaluation of autocratic vs participative behavior was the focus of Exp II; 68 male and 22 female managers were asked to judge the degree of participation of 5–8 other members of mixed-sex training groups and to describe their affective response to each. Males and females perceived as participative were rated equally favorably. However, females perceived as autocratic were negatively evaluated; males perceived as autocratic received modest but positive evaluations. The processes underlying these sex differences and the potential effects of confounded variables and other methodological problems are discussed. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Bolman and Deal (1984, 1991) have developed four perspectives, or frames, for understanding organizations and leadership: structural, human resource, political, and symbolic. This paper reports two studies that operationalize that model. The first study uses critical incidents written by managers to assess how many and which frames they use. Most incidents show the use of one or two frames; very few contain all four. In every population, the structural frame was used frequently while the symbolic frame was rarely evident. Across different populations, the use of the human resource and political frames varied substantially. The second study used survey instruments to assess managers' frame orientations. Regression analyses show that their orientations, as perceived by colleagues, are differentially related to perceived effectiveness as manager and leader. Managerial effectiveness is related to an emphasis on rationality and organizational structure. Leadership effectiveness is linked to symbols and culture. For men and women in comparable positions, gender is unrelated to leadership orientations or to their effectiveness as managers or leaders.
This study explores the factors that influence women's career advancement in Turkey. Despite the fact that women are well represented in scientific and professional jobs, they occupy only 4 per cent of top management positions in Turkey. This paper reports the results of two studies. The first study aimed at investigating the socio-cultural context by identifying gender-role stereotypes and attitudes towards women's career advancement. A total of 318 male and female respondents filled out a questionnaire assessing attitudes towards women in management. The second study was qualitative and explored the key perceived success factors affecting women's career development through in-depth interviews with 52 high and middle-level women managers in 27 different organisations. The results are discussed under three categories: individual, organisational, and family-related factors. Findings show that the key success factors for women managers are their self-confidence and determination to achieve their career objectives. Next comes support from the family and organisations. The most significant barrier seemed to be the cultural norms toward gender roles.
Cette étude examine la culture organisationnelle, les comportements de direction, et les perceptions face aux attributs efficaces et très efficaces des dirigeants dans la société turque. Les données utilisées dans cette étude proviennent à la fois d’une recherche indépendante et de la base de données GLOBE. Dans le projet indépendant de recherche, les données ont été recueillies auprès de 92 personnes employées par deux compagnies manufacturières et deux de services. Les données qualitatives de GLOBE proviennent de deux groupes de discussion et de six entrevues en profondeur. Les valeurs organisationnelles dominantes dans les entreprises turques ont été identifiées comme étant, en ordre d’importance, le collectivisme, une orientation performance, l’évitement de l’incertitude, le sacrifice de soi, l’intégrité, distance hiérarchique, la qualité, la considération, et l’orientation vers le futur. Les comportements de direction les plus fréquemment observés ont été les suivants: hiérarchique—autocratique, suivi par paternaliste—considérant, transactionnel—orienté vers l’équipe, et laisser-faire. Les résultats démontrent que tous les comportements de direction ont été influencés par les valeurs organisationnelles. Les attributs efficaces des dirigeants ont été perçus comme incluant les qualités suivantes: orienté vers les personnes (intégrateurs d’équipe et paternaliste), orienté vers la tâche, participatif, et charismatique—transformationnel. En général, cette étude démontre l’importance du collectivisme dans la culture organisationnelle tout comme dans les attributs très efficaces des dirigeants dans un contexte turque.
Research has consistently found that effective leadership is perceived as characterized by traits similar to those associated with masculine gender roles. These perceptions would appear to be at odds with extensive research indicating that effective leadership requires consideration and structuring behaviors—behaviors that seem to represent both masculine and feminine styles. In two separate studies, the correspondence between gender stereotypes and dimensions of effective leadership were assessed. Results indicate that consideration behaviors are perceived to be feminine, while structuring behaviors are perceived to be masculine. Similarly, qualities that characterize the masculine gender role are perceived to be consistent with structuring, while qualities associated with the feminine gender roles are perceived to be consistent with consideration. It is suggested that an increased awareness of the androgynous nature of effective leadership behaviors might weaken the biases in favor of male leaders.
The effects of gender on evaluations of managerial potential within a corporate assessment center program were investigated. The sample consisted of 375 men and 61 women (94% White, 3% Black, 2.3% Asian, and .7% Hispanic) assessed between 1980 and 1985. Candidates were assessed on their intellectual ability, performance and interpersonal skills, and overall management potential. Women were rated higher than men on the performance-style skills; however, there were no differences in overall management potential ratings or in actual long-term job advancement. The results suggest that subtle gender bias affects evaluations of managerial potential and subsequent promotion decisions.
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.
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.
As women continue to enter and advance within management ranks, how gender and leadership style influence subordinate satisfaction remains a significant issue. This paper reports on an experiment that analyzed the effects of gender and leadership style on subordinate satisfaction. While subjects were more satisfied in democratically led groups, gender of leader did not significantly affect satisfaction. Female subordinates were more dissatisfied than males in autocratically led groups.
The purpose of this study was first to explore the dimensionality of the ratings made for a successful middle manager using the Schein Descriptive Index (SDI) (Schein, 1973), and then to compare the ratings made for a successful middle manager, a women, and a man on the identified dimensions. Students (N = 806) enrolled in psychology courses in a university in Ankara, Turkey rated the SDI adjectives to describe a woman, a man, or a successful middle manager. Three factors were identified that underlie the SDI adjectives for a successful middle manager: relationship-orientation, task-orientation, and emotional stability. Compared to men and middle managers in general, women were perceived by all participants to be relatively high in relationship-orientation, relatively low in task-orientation, and relatively low in emotional stability. Implications of the findings are discussed using role congruity theory as a general framework.
The effect of implicit leadership theories on consideration and initiating structure ratings from the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (XII) was investigated. Factor loadings obtained from students under a limited information condition were compared with those from reported field data. The consideration factors were found to be highly congruent, while initiating structure factors were moderately congruent. These results were consistent with comparisons from three additional samples varying in respondent's familiarity with the leader. Cues regarding performance, sex, and level of accomplishment of the supervisor were also examined in the context of implicit theories. Performance cues were found to have a highly significant effect on subscale ratings. The effect for supervisor's sex was marginally significant. Emphasizing behavior—attention—encoding—memory units inherent in such ratings, rater's limited information processing capacity was suggested as a possible explanation of results. It was concluded, after considering the generalizability of results, that the findings posed a threat to the internal validity of behavioral questionnaires.
The Arabic cluster, consisting of Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Kuwait, and Qatar is located in the Middle Eastern part of the world. These societies reflect a medium level of Human Development and are rich in oil and mineral resources. They have many commonalities in their societal norms and practices, reflecting their historical, religious, and socio-cultural characteristics. They are all predominantly Muslim, have been under the influence of Europe and Ottoman Empire before gaining their independence, and they share common literature, architecture, and educational background. Societies in the Arabic cluster are found to be highly group-oriented, hierarchical, masculine, and low on future orientation. Outstanding leadership in this cluster includes team-oriented and charismatic attributes. The paper discusses the managerial implications of these findings.
A laboratory experiment involving 288 first-year West Point cadets assigned to 72 4-person groups examined the impact of leader sex roles and follower attitudes toward women on objective measures of group performance and group member perceptions. Performance was influenced by both a Leader Sex main effect and a Task Structure × Follower Attitudes interaction. Post-task questionnaire measures of leader behavior, morale, and attributions about the causes of leader and group performance yielded a large number of significant effects. Results were interpreted in terms of four major issues: the importance of sex roles as a leadership variable, sex bias in attributions, construct validity of the Attitude toward Women Scale, and the importance of task variables as a determinant of group process and member perceptions.
Examined implicit leadership theory (preconceptions about the patterning of leadership variables) in 235 college students. Ss completed the Survey of Organizations questionnnaire on a fictitious "Plant X" about which they were given little information. Factor analysis, performed on the items purported to measure 4 leadership factors, resulted in the conceptualized factor structure. Since no information was given regarding supervisory behavior in Plant X, the factor structure was attributed to an implicit leadership theory. Factor analysis on subsamples indicated the factor structure could not be attributed to either experience in organizations or previous instruction in management. It is suggested that responses to questionnaires regarding organizational variables may be contaminated by implicit theory and that multitrait-multimethod procedures may be required to validate questionnaires.
Conducted a replication of V. Schein's study with 167 female middle managers to test the hypothesis that among female managers, successful middle managers are perceived to possess those characteristics, attitudes, and temperaments more commonly ascribed to males in general than to females in general. Ss rated either females in general, males in general, or successful middle managers on 92 descriptive terms. As was found with the male sample in Schein's study, results confirm the hypothesis. The relationship between sex role stereotypes and perceived requisite management characteristics was strongest among female managers with limited managerial experience.
A role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders proposes that perceived incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles leads to 2 forms of prejudice: (a) perceiving women less favorably than men as potential occupants of leadership roles and (b) evaluating behavior that fulfills the prescriptions of a leader role less favorably when it is enacted by a woman. One consequence is that attitudes are less positive toward female than male leaders and potential leaders. Other consequences are that it is more difficult for women to become leaders and to achieve success in leadership roles. Evidence from varied research paradigms substantiates that these consequences occur, especially in situations that heighten perceptions of incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles.
A meta-analysis of 45 studies of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles found that female leaders were more transformational than male leaders and also engaged in more of the contingent reward behaviors that are a component of transactional leadership. Male leaders were generally more likely to manifest the other aspects of transactional leadership (active and passive management by exception) and laissez-faire leadership. Although these differences between male and female leaders were small, the implications of these findings are encouraging for female leadership because other research has established that all of the aspects of leadership style on which women exceeded men relate positively to leaders' effectiveness whereas all of the aspects on which men exceeded women have negative or null relations to effectiveness.
Based on expectancy theory, goal-setting theory and control theory we propose a model in which perceived fairness mediates the relationship between characteristics of employee performance management systems and their perceived effectiveness by employees. The model was tested on a sample of 3192 employees, using structural equation modelling. The findings advance research to the role and functionality of performance management systems by showing that (a) the manner in which performance management systems are shaped and executed is of fundamental importance for their effectiveness, (b) fairness partially mediates the relationship between performance management system characteristics and their effectiveness, and (c) the three motivational theories appear useful for understanding the consequences of performance management practices on individual employees.