The effects of emotions on the associations between stereotypical characteristics of successful and unsuccessful leaders and evaluations of their performance

Abstract

This study investigated how emotions (admiration; envy; contempt) mediated the relationship between the stereotypes (competence; warmth) ascribed to successful and unsuccessful male and female leaders working in male- and female-dominated sectors (technology and health respectively) and evaluations of performance. Multiple-Group Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyse data from 956 workers. We found that in other sex-dominated environments leaders’ perceived competence (directly) and warmth (indirectly through admiration) were associated with more positive evaluations of performance than in same sex-dominated environments regardless of their company’s success. Moreover, successful, competent female leaders exhibiting little warmth in a female-dominated environment elicited envy, and hence negative evaluations. The results are discussed in terms of the Stereotype Content Model and its extension, the Behaviours from Intergroup Affect and Stereotypes (BIAS) Map, as well as role congruity theory. Keywords: stereotypes; emotions; gender; leadership; failure.