Executive coaching: Does coach-coachee matching based on similarity really matter?

Abstract

Although executive coaching has become increasingly popular in the corporate world for the last 2 decades, there have been few empirical studies on how the match between coach and coachee affects the coaching relationship. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of gender similarity and perceived similarity on executive-coaching effectiveness, as reflected in the improvement in attitudinal and behavioral outcomes (i.e., self-awareness, career satisfaction, organizational commitment, and supervisorrated task performance). Study participants (68 coach-coachee dyads) were drawn from the clients of 4 Israel-based firms that provide executive coaching. Overall, the coachcoachee match had little significant effect on coaching outcomes. More specifically, gender similarity and perceived similarity had no significant effect at all on career satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, we found gender similarity had a significant relationship with the change of coachee’s self-awareness. That is, male executives with female coaches responded that their self-awareness was not improved as a result of coaching. Additionally, the more coaches perceived similarity with coachees, the higher their supervisor-rated task performance. Since, unlike a mentoring relationship, executive coaching has more specific goals and a highly structured process, it appears to be unnecessary for HR/OD practitioners to be concerned about coach-coachee matching based on similarity (gender or overall perception).