As women increasingly enter leadership roles that
traditionally were occupied mainly by men, the possibility that
the leadership styles of women and men differ continues to attract
attention. The focus of these debates on sameness versus difference
obscures the array of causal factors that can produce differences
under some circum-stances and similarity under other circumstances.
Adopting the perspective of social role theory, we offer a framework
that encompasses many of the complexities of the empirical literature
on the leadership styles of women and men. Supplementing Eagly and
Johnson's (1990) review of the interpersonally oriented and task-oriented
styles of women and men as well as their democratic and autocratic
styles, we also consider the transformational, transactional, and
laissez-faire leadership styles of women and men.
Alice H. Eagly, Department
of Psychology, Northwestern University
Mary C. Johannesen-Schmidt, Department of Psychology,
Northwestern University
This working paper has been published in
the Journal of Social Issues.
To Order:
Hard copies of IPR working papers cost $5.00 each (international orders are $10 each). We only accept checks drawn on U.S. bank and payable in U.S. funds. Checks or
money orders should be made payable to Northwestern University and sent to
the following address:
Publications Department - WP Orders
Institute for Policy Research
2040 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL 60208-4100.
For information, call 847-491-8712 or email ipr@northwestern.edu.
Please note that we do not accept credit cards.
