Examining the moderating effect of gender on compassion and leader emergence

Abstract

Compassion, the endeavor to alleviate another individual’s distress, is commonly seen as a prosocial behavior with positive consequences. Drawing on social role theory and leadership categorization theory, we propose that compassionate behavior is related to perceptions of competence and warmth, which are subsequently related to leader emergence perceptions. Yet, because compassion is a behavior often associated with women, it may activate gender stereotypes, and thus we propose that gender will moderate the relationship between compassion and leader emergence via perceptions of competence and warmth, with compassionate women less likely to be perceived as leaders. However, men stand to benefit from acting compassionately because defying gender stereotypes is unexpected behavior that invites positive attention. Study 1, a longitudinal study with 38 student teams working together for 8 weeks, demonstrates a mediated moderation effect of gender on the relationship between compassion and leadership via competence, such that men, but not women, gain competence credit for displaying compassion and are thereafter ranked higher on leader emergence. To offset these negative consequences of compassion for women, the authors distinguish between two different types of compassion, agentic and communal. Study 2, a pre-registered vignette study with a diverse sample of 563 working adults, shows that gender effects are attenuated when women engage in agentic compassion, a specific form of compassion that both conforms to and breaks with gender stereotypes.