Tough Leaders? The Role of Leader/Follower Gender and Leadership Style on Leadership Effectiveness

Addressing inconclusive findings in the relational demography and role congruity literature, this study examined the conditions under, and the processes by which gender affects leadership effectiveness. Grounding the analysis in the Social Identity Theory of Leadership (SITL), it was hypothesised that leader gender affects leadership effectiveness via leadership group prototypicality contingent on leadership style (directive versus participative) and follower gender. Data was collected from 126 employees in the services sector in Lebanon and Germany. As hypothesized, moderated mediation analyses showed that female leaders who engaged in directive leadership with their male followers were more prototypical and ultimately more effective than male leaders who engaged in equivalent behaviour; however, the study did not find support for the idea that male leaders were more prototypical and effective than female leaders when they engaged in participative leadership with their male followers. Implications for th...