The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Communication 243

Which style of leadership is most effec-

tive? A meta-analytic review showed that the

transformational leadership style was most

effective (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). In an ex-

perimental study in which college students

evaluated a leader named “Pat” (sex purposely

ambiguous), he or she was perceived more

favorably when using a transformational

style of leadership than a transactional style

of leadership—regardless of whether Pat

was believed to be male or female (Embry,

Padgett, & Caldwell, 2008). A study of hos-

pital employees in Australia showed that

managers with a transformational style had

employees who were more innovative—but the

relation was stronger for male than female

leaders (Reuvers et al., 2008). Reuvers and

colleagues suggested that the gendered setting

of the workplace (i.e., hospital where major-

ity of nurses are female) might account for the

finding.

Perception of Female and Male Leaders

It is not so much that women and men be-

have differently as leaders as it is that their

behavior is perceived differently. Most diffi-

culties women encounter as leaders occur in

male-dominated settings, when women dis-

play stereotypical masculine behavior, and

when they are evaluated by men (Ayman &

Korabik, 2010).

There are two kinds of prejudice against

female leaders (Eagly & Karau, 2002). First,

due to descriptive stereotypes, people may

evaluate a female leader less favorably than

a male leader because she lacks the agentic

qualities needed for leadership. Second, due to

prescriptive stereotypes, people may evaluate a

female leader less favorably than a male leader

ifshe possesses agentic leadership qualities be-

cause those qualities conflict with the female

gender role. Numerous studies have shown

that female leaders are viewed more negatively

than male leaders when they display agentic

qualities—especially among males.

Men seem to be more influenced by a

woman who behaves in a stereotypical rather

than a nonstereotypical way—even though

the stereotype for females is lacking credibil-

ity (Reid, Keerie, & Palomares, 2003). A study

in which college students listened to a speech

given by a female or a male who used either

masculine (assertive) or feminine (tentative)

language showed that female leaders who

used masculine language were more influen-

tial than those who used feminine language

among female students butlessinfluential

among male students (Carli, 1990). Male lead-

ers had a similar influence on respondents re-

gardless of the style of their speech. Although

male respondents rated the female tentative

speaker as less competent and less knowledge-

able than the female assertive speaker, they

were more influenced by her. Why were men

influenced by a less competent speaker? Carli

(1990) suggests the first thing a person of

lower status must convey to a person of higher

status is that she or he is not trying to com-

pete for status. Using tentative language com-

municates this. Thus male respondents may

have been more receptive to the female tenta-

tive speaker’s arguments because they did not

have to be concerned with status issues. The

female assertive speaker might have been per-

ceived as challenging the men’s higher status.

Thus women may have to adopt a more ste-

reotypical style to influence men. Women face

a dilemma when they are expected to behave

in a submissive way but the situation requires

assertive skills to succeed.

The problems that women face when

trying to influence men are especially sa-

lient in the following study of group inter-

actions. In this study, 40 teams of three to

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