Do People Lead Men and Women Differently? Multimethod Evidence That Group Gender Affects Leaders' Dominance

Leaders' behavior can powerfully alter group outcomes. In a programmatic series of preregistered studies, we provide the first rigorous test of whether and why leaders behave differently toward groups of men versus women. In a within-subjects pilot study (N = 336) and in between-subjects Study 1 (N = 368), American adults said they would lead groups of men (vs. women) in a more dominant (e.g., intimidating, controlling) manner. Study 2 (N = 361) replicated this pattern and found that people lead mixed-gender groups similarly to how they lead groups of all women. In Study 3 (N = 314), coaches of boys' (vs. girls') sports teams-real leaders of gender-segregated groups-also said that they led more dominantly. In Study 4 (N = 161), students who believed that they would be leading men (vs. women) were rated by trained coders as more dominant in a videotaped introduction to their group. The pilot study and Studies 1, 2, and 4 all tested for and found evidence suggesting that the underlying mechanism was related to leaders' stereotypes about their followers' communion. In Study 5 (N = 844), men evaluated dominant leaders more positively than women, suggesting that followers may reinforce leaders' tendency to lead men with more dominance. Leaders are likely to treat-and be reinforced for treating-groups of men in a more dominant way, with implications for group outcomes and group members' well-being. Public Significance StatementThis workfinds a systematic tendency for people to be more dominant-harsh, controlling, andintimidating-when the groups they lead are made up entirely of men (compared with entirely women ormixed-gender groups). Moreover, even though more versus less dominant leaders have differentstrengths that may be called for in different situations, followers may reinforce this gendered tendency,as men generally respond more positively to more dominant leadership. Thus, when a person entersa new leadership role, they may start to behave differently depending on the gender composition of theirnew followers; this may have consequences for group outcomes. Stakeholders charged with appointingnew leaders may want to bear this in mind.