Leader-facilitated emotion management and perceived effectiveness: moderating roles of leader gender and culture

Abstract

ABSTRACT Leader-facilitated emotion management (LEM), or behaviour aimed at helping followers regulate their negative emotion, is a key aspect of many leadership styles, yet expectations for such behaviour are likely to vary based on a leader’s gender and culture. Using archival multi-source data from a third-party provider of leadership development programmes, this study examines the cultural value of gender egalitarianism (GE), or the degree of gender role7 differentiation in a society, as a moderator of gender-based and LEM-based differences in leader effectiveness ratings. The positive relationship between LEM behaviour and leader effectiveness ratings was stronger in countries characterized as high (vs. low) on GE practice. LEM behaviour, leader gender, and country-level GE practice also exhibited a three-way interaction in relation to leader effectiveness ratings: In countries low in GE practice, the ‘boost’ in effectiveness ratings associated with high LEM behaviour was greater for female leaders than for male leaders. In countries high in GE practice, the ‘penalty’ associated with low LEM behaviour was greater for male leaders than for female leaders.