The Female Leader and the “High-High” Effective Leader Stereotype

Summary

Previous research conducted on male leaders developed a stereotype of the effective leader as “high-high” in behavior, i.e., high in both initiating structure for subordinates and consideration demonstrated towards them. This view has been branded a myth in recent studies. The present study (N = 537) investigated the applicability of the high-high effective leader stereotype to female leaders, following the attribution theory approach of Powell and Butterfield. High group performance was associated with perceptions of a high-high leadership style and high evaluations of the leader, no matter whether the leader actually exhibited a high-high or low-low leadership style. The results suggest that attributional effects of group performance apply to female leaders across a wide range of leadership styles.