To what extent does a leader behavior depend on his or her gender? Past research is divided. Some scholars found evidence that women's participative, caring, and collective orientations make them more democratic and inclusive leaders. Other evidence points to "leader androgyny" (Bem, 1977) or similarity between the genders. This quantitative study examined whether, in the eyes of 141 subordinates, 33 Information Technology project managers were significantly different in their empowering behavior. A revised Leader Empowering Behavior Questionnaire (LEBQ; Konczak, Stelly, & Trusty, 2000) was employed. The LEBQ has 6 behavioral dimensions which are correlated to subordinate psychological empowerment (Spreitzer, 1995, 1996). On two dimensions, Accountability and Self-Directed Decision Making, women leader's scores were significantly higher than men's. No significant differences between the genders were reported in Delegation of Authority, Information Sharing, Skill Development, or Coaching for Innovative Performance, nor were they significantly different on their Overall Empowerment scores. To sum up, these leaders were reported as more similar than different, indicating "gender similarity" (Hyde, 2005) rather than a distinct "Female Advantage" (Helgesen, 1995). / Additional future exploration of this topic includes a larger sample size or different population. Other areas include the gender interaction of superiors and subordinates, the extent to which leaders employ the empowering behaviors that matter most to subordinates, and relationship of empowerment to measures such as engagement or retention. / Keywords: Gender, Empowerment, Female Advantage, Gender Similarity, Psychological Empowerment, Leadership, Leader Behavior, Leadership Androgyny, Culture
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CHENGCHI/U0003498279 |
| Creators | Slaughter, Blair Brennan. |
| Publisher | Fielding Graduate University. |
| Source Sets | National Chengchi University Libraries |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Rights | Copyright © nccu library on behalf of the copyright holders |
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