Gender and managerial coaching across cultures: female managers are coaching more

Abstract

Despite the increasing popularity of managerial coaching in organizations worldwide, little is known with regard to how gender and culture may affect managerial behavior. The present study is the first empirical study on managerial coaching on a global scale. Based on social role theory, role congruity theory, and cross-cultural theory, we first expect female leaders to engage in more coaching behavior than male leaders. Second, we expect that male leadership, particularly coaching behavior, is more influenced by societal culture than female leadership. Survey data were obtained from more than 600,000 employees, assessing coaching behavior of more than 130,000 practicing managers from 51 countries/areas. Results support both expectations. Taken together, this study has advanced our empirical and theoretical understanding of managerial coaching on a global scale.

Keywords:

• culture
• gender
• managerial coaching