Gender differences in transformational leadership: An examination of superior, leader, and subordinate perspectives

This study examined gender differences in transformational leadership from multiple perspectives. The sample was employees of a large international bank in Australia. Ratings were obtained from branch managers' (n = 120 female and n = 184 male), their superiors (n = 32) and subordinates (n = 588). The findings showed that superiors evaluated female managers as more transformational than male managers. Consistent with the superior observations, at the global level, female managers rated themselves as more transformational than males, however at the more specific, behavioral level of analysis, significant gender differences were noted only for those subscales which are more interpersonally-oriented. Subordinates evaluated their female and male leaders equally.