Sexual Orientation and Leadership Suitability: How Being Gay Affects Perceptions of Fit

Abstract

This talk presents an experiment which examined the effect of a male candidate's sexuality on their suitability for six gender- typed managerial positions. The participants were presented one of four vignettes in which a fictional character was described as ready for a promotion and: (1) gay and out, (2) gay and in the closet, (3) gay, and (4) heterosexual. A total of 351 participants evaluated the target's communion and agency, as well as their suitability for six pre-tested gender-typed managerial positions. Participants did not evaluate the gay targets as any less agentic nor less suitable for the masculine or neutral-typed managerial positions than their heterosexual counterpart. However, the gay targets were evaluated as more communal and more suitable for the feminine-typed managerial positions than their heterosexual counterpart. Using structural equation modeling, a mediational model using communion as a latent mediator for the relationship between the experimental conditions and the targets’ suit...