Causal attributions about success and failure and perception of female leadership

The paper reviews various studies analysing the effect of several factors related to: 1) evaluator and evaluatee (such as sex, job organisational context, and nationality), and 2) the evaluation that male and female candidates undergo when applying for a lead-ship position. We ham specifically focused on causal attributions that air made about candidates' successes and failures as these can he decisive in whether candidates are perceived suitable for the position and to what extent. 1588 individuals (840 women and 748,men) participated in the studies reviewed. Participants were of different nationalities and their age ranged from 11 to 82 years. The results are interpreted in line with the Role Congruity Theory (Eagly and Karau, 2002).