Qualifying the Extraverted Leadership Advantage: Interactive Effects of Gender and Extraversion on Leadership Behaviors and Effectiveness

Extraversion predicts transformational leadership and leader effectiveness, but do team members’ perceptions of extraverted leaders’ effectiveness depend on the gender of leaders? Drawing on role congruity theory, we propose that although extraverted leadership leads to higher levels of transformational leadership and leader effectiveness, this effect is likely to occur only for extraverted male leaders because there is likely to be a greater match between leaders’ attributes (i.e., assertive, dominant, male) and the social role (leader). However, because communal characteristics (e.g., gentle, kind, sympathetic) are often ascribed to women, when female leaders act in the same dominant, assertive way as male extraverted leaders, there is likely to be a greater incongruence between leaders’ attributes and the social role, leading to lower levels of effectiveness. We analyzed data from 49 small formed in a laboratory setting. Moderated regression results revealed that only male extraverted leaders were likely to be perceived as transformational and effective leaders, providing support for our hypothesis.https://via.library.depaul.edu/psychologynight/1048/thumbnail.jp