Leadership by Gender Stereotypes: Systematic Examinations of Culture and Gender of Leaders

We investigate how leadership behaviors are contingent on the cultural context and the gender of leaders and followers. Drawing on the theoretical lens provided by the gender stereotype literature, we propose that cultural tightness may shape leaders’ perception that their groups have negative attitudes toward stereotypically feminine leadership behavior, which in turn leads them to counter the stereotype by displaying more directive and less empowering leadership behavior. Counterintuitively, these mediated relationships may be stronger for female leaders than for male leaders, as female leaders may feel a higher threat caused by such stereotypes and thus attempt to counter this threat by engaging in even more directive and less empowering leadership behavior than male leaders. Lastly, the counterintuitive behavior predicted for female leaders in tight groups may be further strengthened when they lead male-dominated groups than when they lead female-dominated groups (three-way interaction). We test these hypotheses in a multi-source and multi-wave field study with 159 middle managers in 159 bank branches, and the results supported our hypotheses.