An evaluation of the impact of role congruity and power sharing techniques on perceived leadership effectiveness.

AbstractGrounded in social role theory, role congruity theory evaluates gender roles and their importance in promoting behavioral differences between the sexes. Role congruity theory considers congruency between gender and other roles, and thus far, has focused mostly on leadership. Related to this, a leader's use of power may indicate whether (s)he is perceived as effective. Research indicates a "glass ceiling" still exists for women, which may be linked to role congruity theory and power sharing methods. Results of this study support the hypothesis: leaders portrayed as cooperative power sharers will be considered more effective than leaders who demonstrate competitive power sharing methods, however, no significant differences in the leader's sex selected given her/his power sharing technique were determined. This may suggest gender, more so than power sharing techniques, may be a better predictor of leadership expectations.