Exploring the connection between a corporate executive\u27s leadership styles and their sexual orientation

This qualitative research study explores the connections between sexual orientation and leadership styles. The literature broadly investigates the impacts of gender and organizational culture on leadership styles. In response to various calls from the literature, this study goes beyond what the literature suggests regarding leadership styles and traditional perspectives on leadership suggesting sexual orientation shapes and influences a leader\u27s style within the workplace. This study highlights the impacts of heterosexism and heteronormativity featuring heterosexuality as the dominant social construct and discusses influences as well as the impacts of workplace stereotypes and discrimination on a leader\u27s self-reported leadership style. To illustrate these points, the research reviews a number of frameworks across social, cultural, historical and feminist literatures as well as leverages a qualitative approach featuring executive interviews and a focus group in order to understand the degree to which sexual orientation impacts a leader\u27s perception of their leadership style within the workplace. The findings suggest a leader\u27s sexual orientation impacts the perception of their leadership style within the workplace