Leadership in the hospitality industries: Do women and men value different leadership styles?

This paper seeks to explore and quantify the differences in gender based perceptions of leadership styles and outcomes in the hospitality industry. Using a well establish self-administered instrument, the MLQ, the researchers used a “snow balling” technique to recruit a self-selected sample of 264 hospitality employees. These employees work in a variety of sectors in the hospitality industry, including large international style hotels, small franchised motels, food and beverage operations and contract catering. Furthermore, the respondents were drawn from all levels ranging from junior staff to senior property and site managers. Overall the results indicated that males and females displayed similar leadership styles. However, there were a number of subtle gender differences. These differences were manifested in the form of the males placing greater emphasis on challenging and motivating team members whilst the females placed greater emphasis on leadership styles which are built upon clear and concise communication and a greater focus on personal consideration for the team members. However, these subtle differences warrant further investigation – possibly using a more holistic approach – such as using a 360 degree assessment or semi structured interviews