Leading with Emotional Labor:Gender Differences in Leader Emotional Labor and Employee Performance

Abstract

In this paper, adopting the role congruity theory, we proposed that female leaders can be more effective in driving employee task performance than male leaders when they are high in emotional labor. Using a sample of 515 leaders and their corresponding 515 employees in three companies in Japan, we examined the joint effects of leader gender and leader emotional labor on employee task performance through employee trust in leader. Our results suggested that female leaders emotional labor had a stronger, positive effect on employee trust in leader than their male counterparts. In addition, we found that female leader's emotional labor had a stronger positive, indirect effect on employee task performance through employee trust in leader than male leaders. Our findings are consistent with the predictions of role congruity theory (Eagly, 1987), providing new theoretical lens to the gender and leader emotional labor research.