A longitudinal study investigating changing implicit leadership theory in an Irish business school

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate changing implicit leadership theories (ILTs) within a business student population over a ten-year period.Design/methodology/approachStudents from the same business student population rated men, women and managers in general, using Schein’s Descriptive Index, first during the academic year 2008–2009 and again in 2018–2019.FindingsIn Sample 1, the authors found multiple ILTs, male students gender typed the managerial role in favour of men, while female students held a more gender egalitarian view of the managerial role. In Sample 2, the authors found evidence that ILTs are starting to converge, as neither the male nor female sample gender typed the managerial role.Practical implicationsThese results aid the understanding of the ILTs that these graduating professionals bring into their new full-time organisations.Originality/valueThe analysis of data from the same population using the same measurement at ten-year intervals, along with the findings that male students no longer gender type the managerial role in the most recent round of data collection, are original contributions to the literature.