Thesis (M.A.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Women and Gender Studies." Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-135).

Mainstream leadership studies are concerned mostly about western values. To fill the gap between Western and Eastern perspectives on leadership, this study examines female leadership from a Daoist perspective. Daoism is a valuable and rich philosophical system from China and has a history of more than 2,500 years. Key concepts from Daoism (e.g., harmony, Wei Wu-Wei, Yin-Yang, water-like leadership, and its high regard for females and mothers) were used as alternative and resourceful theoretical foundations for this study. This study was a between-subject 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design (leader candidate’s gender: male vs. female; leadership style: agentic vs. Daoist; and participants’ gender: male vs. female). Four vignettes were created and assigned as stimulus materials to each of the four conditions in the study (agentic male, agentic female, Daoist male, and Daoist female). Participants (N=383) were asked to read one leader candidate vignette and evaluate this candidate on seven aspects (positivity, likeableness, effectiveness, follower empowerment, follower autonomy cultivation, democracy, and leader emergence). Data were collected from MTurk and analyzed using MANOVA. The results indicated a significant main effect for leadership style and a significant two-way interaction effect for leadership style and leader gender. These findings demonstrate that Daoist leadership style was more preferable than agentic leadership style on positivity, likeableness, effectiveness, empowerment, follower autonomy cultivation, democracy, and leader emergence. Additionally, the Daoist female leader candidate was perceived more positively, likeable, empowering, and democratic, than agentic male leader candidate.

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This thesis explores the effects of gender-based leader stereotypes on leader-follower relations in terms of the implications of shared identity between the leader and the followers (team and/or gender). Four experiments assessed followers’ attitudes toward their leaders when the leaders’ genders were under conditions of stereotype threat as compared to advantage (Studies 1 and 2), no-threat (Study 3) or control (Study 4). Experimental conditions were invoked using text-based stereotype manipulations. In Study 1 (where stereotypes favoured male leaders, thus implicitly representing threat for females) and Study 2 (where stereotypes manipulated advantage/threat for both genders), undergraduates in mixed-sex teams rated team leaders’ presentations. In Study 3, undergraduates in single-sex teams (under conditions of stereotype threat or no-threat) predicted their team leader’s performance, indicated leader-follower proximity (leader’s prototypicality, leader identification and collective threat), and reported perceived self-efficacy for leadership. Similar measures were obtained in Study 4, where corporate employees selected an effective leader from their work experience, prior to exposure to stereotype manipulations (threat or control). The student studies had three main findings. First, male leaders benefitted from the ratings of high team identifiers (a) in the context of male advantage/ female stereotype threat and (b) when males were under threat relative to the advantage condition. The benefit of team identification was not evident for female leaders. Second, male leaders benefitted from female followers’ ratings under threat compared to the advantage condition. In contrast, female leaders under stereotype threat were downgraded by female followers relative to advantage or no-threat conditions. Third, stereotype threat negatively affected high team identifiers’ self-efficacy for leadership. In the corporate study, male respondents’ choice of an effective leader was more likely to be a male whereas there was no gender difference in the leaders chosen by female respondents. Drawing on role congruity theory and a social identity framework, the thesis analyses and finds evidence suggesting that stereotype threat as collective threat contributed to followers’ relatively negative attitudes toward female leaders in terms of leader-follower relations.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Clive J. A. Fullagar / This mixed-methods study consisted of two phases. First, interviews were conducted with ROTC instructors responsible for organizational socialization of newcomers to the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. This data shaped surveys given to organizational newcomers in phase II, which measured organizational culture and cognitive leadership schemas. It was hypothesized that implicit leadership theories (ILTs) would reflect respective organizational cultures. Although this was supported in the qualitative results from Phase I, it was not supported in the quantitative results from Phase II. However, analyses showed that leadership is still perceived as a masculine role in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, as was hypothesized. It was also hypothesized that leaders in line occupations would be seen as better leaders than leaders in staff occupations. This was supported for the Air Force sample, but not the Army sample. During the interviews, ROTC instructors asserted that male and female leaders were equally capable, and that line and staff leaders were equally capable. However, questioning revealed that organizational stereotypes still defined the quintessential leader as a male in a line occupation, although females had more opportunities to fill those key occupations in the Air Force than in the Army, at the time of this study. This discrepancy, along with the discrepancies in results between the qualitative and quantitative data, indicate that organizational culture has perhaps changed at the levels of visible artifacts and espoused values with respect to diversity, but has not yet changed at the fundamental level of basic assumptions.

Leadership is a socially constructed concept shaped by the context, values and experiences of society (Klenke, 1996); the historical context of gender and ethnicity in society affects views about leadership and who merits a leadership role. Therefore, developing an understanding of Hispanic women students’ leadership identity development is critical in broadening how we define leadership and develop leadership education. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and describe the leadership identity development of a select group of women leaders at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the southeast. A psychosocial approach to the study was utilized. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted with 11 self-identified Hispanic women students of sophomore, junior or senior standing with varying degrees of involvement in leadership activities at Florida International University. Participants were asked questions related to four topics; (a) leadership, (b) gender, (c) ethnic identity, and (d) influences that contributed to their understanding of self as leader. Five topics emerged from the data presented by the participants’: (a) encouraging relationships, (b) meaningful experiences, (c) self development, (d) the role of gender, and (e) impact of ethnicity. These themes contributed to the leadership identity development of the participants. Findings indicate that leadership identity development for Hispanic women college students at this HSI is complex. The concept of leadership identity development presented in the literature was challenged as findings indicate that the participants’ experiences living and attending a school in a majority-minority city influenced their development of a leadership identity. The data indicate that leadership is not gender or ethnicity neutral as differences exist in expectations of men and women in leadership roles. Gender expectations posed particular challenges for these women student leaders. The prescriptive nature of stage-based models was problematic as findings indicated leadership identity development a complicated and continuing process influenced strongly by relationships and experiences. This study enhanced knowledge of the ways that Hispanic women students become leaders and the influences that shape their leadership experiences which can assist higher education professionals in developing leadership programs and courses that address gender, multiculturalism and awareness of self as leader.

The purpose of the essay is based on the idea of masculine and feminine leadership. As well as the criticism of postheroic leadership as gender neutral, and the conflict in whether men's and women's conceptions of leadership differ. This is determined on the basis of the research questions "Do women have a notion of leadership that can be defined as postheroic", "Do women's notion of leadership differentiate from men's notion" and "Do women experience obstacles in their leadership from stereotypical notions of woman". The method used in the essay is a qualitative and quantitative approach. The collection of empirical data was conducted using six semi-structured interviews with respondents who have a managerial role in the private sector. Four of the respondents are women and two are men. In addition, a survey was conducted against the subordinates of the four female respondents to triangulate the leadership of the interviewed women. The thesis theoretical reference frame consists of ‘Heroic leadership’, ‘Postheroic leadership’, ‘Identity and culture’ and ‘Femininity and masculinity’. The result shows that all women in this study seem to have a postheroic notion of leadership in their way to lead. The result also shows that there do not appear to be any differences between men and women's notion of leadership. Instead, it suggests that the context in which leadership is located has a greater impact on the concept of leadership, than gender. The women in this survey do not state any direct obstacles in their leadership from stereotypical notions of the woman. Instead, it appears that it can be an advantage to be a woman in a relationship-oriented leadership.

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The general purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in self-perception between male and female leaders. The sample group included male and female leaders in a few companies (e.g Fluor, Human Dynamics, The Munt, Rand Merchant Private bank etc) companies. Each manager's self-perception was tested against the way in which others (managers, peers, subordinates) perceive him or her. The difference between the self-rating and that of the others was measured to establish the difference in perception between self and others. The results showed that men were slightly more self-aware than the females. It is recommended that it would be beneficial to find ways in which the environment can be prepared to limit the impact of gender differences on the implementation of the 360 feedback system (or any other performance management system) and to investigate variables such as cultural differences, age and the concept of self-perception. / Indust & Org Psychology / MA(IND AND ORG PSYCHOLOGY)

The general purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in self-perception between male and female leaders. The sample group included male and female leaders in a few companies (e.g Fluor, Human Dynamics, The Munt, Rand Merchant Private bank etc) companies. Each manager's self-perception was tested against the way in which others (managers, peers, subordinates) perceive him or her. The difference between the self-rating and that of the others was measured to establish the difference in perception between self and others. The results showed that men were slightly more self-aware than the females. It is recommended that it would be beneficial to find ways in which the environment can be prepared to limit the impact of gender differences on the implementation of the 360 feedback system (or any other performance management system) and to investigate variables such as cultural differences, age and the concept of self-perception. / Indust and Org Psychology / MA(IND AND ORG PSYCHOLOGY)