The effect of gender differences in supervisors’ emotional expression and leadership style on leadership effectiveness

Abstract

The effect of gender-role stereotypes means that the leadership effectiveness of female leaders is likely to be underestimated, as their roles are different from those of traditional male leaders. Given the theory of paternalistic leadership in Chinese society and from the perspective of Chinese culture, this study re-examined the relationship between the emotional expression and leadership style of supervisors and gender-role stereotypes and its effect on leadership effectiveness. Data were collected using questionnaires distributed to supervisor-subordinate pairs in various departments of 76 enterprises in Taiwan. The research findings showed that gender differences among supervisors did not have a direct effect on leadership effectiveness. However, with the moderation of gender differences in the emotional expression and leadership style of supervisors, negative emotional expression, authoritarian leadership and benevolent leadership all had a significant effect on leadership effectiveness for both genders. The implication of these findings was that gender does not directly affect leadership effectiveness, but that the display of emotional expression and a leadership style consistent with gender expectations, does have effect on the leadership effectiveness of supervisors; thus, providing evidence of the prevalence of gender-role stereotypes in Chinese societies. Key words: Emotional expression, paternalistic leadership, leadership effectiveness, gender-role stereotypes.