Hierarchy enhancing vs. hierarchy attenuating: do men and women differ in their preferences for leadership roles

Building on the role congruity (Eagly & Karau, 2002) and goal congruity perspectives (Diekman et al., 2011), the present research investigated gender differences in leadership aspirations and leadership role preferences amongst Irish university business students. Specifically, the author examined whether greater importance assigned to communal goals by women underlies the greater preference that women, compared with men, show for hierarchy-attenuating than -enhancing leadership roles. Studies 1 and 2 tested the mediating role of goals in the relationship between gender and leadership role preferences. Study 3 examined perceived goal affordance for hierarchy-attenuating and -enhancing leadership roles. Study 4 examined the effect of activating communal or agentic goals on participants’ leadership role preference. Studies 1 and 2 showed that men and women did not differ in leadership aspirations. However, women more than men, preferred hierarchy-attenuating leadership roles, with perceived importance of communal goals mediating this relationship. Study 3 showed that hierarchy-attenuating leadership roles were perceived as affording communal goals more than hierarchy-enhancing leadership roles. Similarly, hierarchy-enhancing leadership roles were perceived as affording agentic goals more than hierarchy-attenuating leadership roles. Study 4 showed that participants in the communal goal condition, more than participants in the control condition, preferred hierarchy-attenuating leadership roles. There was no difference found for leadership role preference between participants in the agentic goal condition and the control condition. Overall, results suggest that women, compared with men, are more likely to prefer a leadership role which affords their communal life goals. Therefore the current research provides insight into men and women’s leadership aspirations and leadership role preference and further supports and extends the goal congruity perspective in the new domain of leadership. Implications for future research include examining leadership aspirations longitudinally and further examination of the process behind women’s preference for hierarchy attenuating leadership roles