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Gender makes the difference: The moderating role of leader gender on the relationship between leadership styles and subordinate performance

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  • Wang, An-Chih
  • Chiang, Jack Ting-Ju
  • Tsai, Chou-Yu
  • Lin, Tzu-Ting
  • Cheng, Bor-Shiuan

Abstract

Using a predominantly male research and development (R&D) sample and a predominantly female customer service personnel sample, we investigated how authoritarian and benevolent leadership styles interact with leader gender to influence subordinate performance (i.e., task performance, citizenship behavior, and creativity). Our research extends role congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002) by adopting Kelley’s (1972a, 1972b) attribution principles to offer a more comprehensive framework for explaining how leader gender affects the impact of leadership styles on subordinate performance. Our results suggest that the negative relationship between authoritarian leadership and subordinate performance is stronger for female than for male leaders and that the positive relationship between benevolent leadership and subordinate performance is stronger for male than for female leaders. Accordingly, in addition to leaders’ engaging in gender-role congruent behaviors, a useful strategy is to adopt behaviors that are perceived as a positive deviation from their gender role.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, An-Chih & Chiang, Jack Ting-Ju & Tsai, Chou-Yu & Lin, Tzu-Ting & Cheng, Bor-Shiuan, 2013. "Gender makes the difference: The moderating role of leader gender on the relationship between leadership styles and subordinate performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 101-113.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:122:y:2013:i:2:p:101-113
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.06.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Chiang, Jack Ting Ju & Chen, Xiao Ping & Liu, Haiyang & Akutsu, Satoshi & Wang, Zheng, 2020. "We have emotions but can’t show them! Authoritarian leadership, emotion suppression climate, and team performance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104058, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    8. Sarah, E. Saint-Michel, 2018. "Leader gender stereotypes and transformational leadership: Does leader sex make the difference?," Post-Print hal-01907935, HAL.
    9. An-Chih Wang & Yanyu Chen & Miao-Sui Hsu & Yi-Chieh Lin & Chou-Yu Tsai, 2022. "Role-based paternalistic exchange: Explaining the joint effect of leader authoritarianism and benevolence on culture-specific follower outcomes," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 433-455, June.
    10. Guo, Liang & Decoster, Stijn & Babalola, Mayowa T. & De Schutter, Leander & Garba, Omale A. & Riisla, Katrin, 2018. "Authoritarian leadership and employee creativity: The moderating role of psychological capital and the mediating role of fear and defensive silence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 219-230.
    11. Weipeng Lin & Jingjing Ma & Qi Zhang & Jenny Chen Li & Feng Jiang, 2018. "How is Benevolent Leadership Linked to Employee Creativity? The Mediating Role of Leader–Member Exchange and the Moderating Role of Power Distance Orientation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1099-1115, November.
    12. Jens Horbach & Jojo Jacob, 2018. "The relevance of personal characteristics and gender diversity for (eco‐)innovation activities at the firm‐level: Results from a linked employer–employee database in Germany," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 924-934, November.
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