Leadership Efficacy and Women Leaders' Responses to Stereotype Activation
Abstract
The role of leadership efficacy in women's reactance responses to stereotype-based leadership role expectations was examined in two laboratory studies. Participants, selected on the basis of leadership efficacy scores, served as leaders of ostensible three-person groups. Half were primed with the gender leadership stereotype. An immersive virtual environment designed for this research served as the leadership setting. Results indicated that the effects of stereotype activation on women leaders were moderated by leadership efficacy such that high efficacy leaders exhibited more positive, reactance responses (increased perceived performance, increased rated performance, greater domain identification, and higher well-being) than low efficacy leaders. Additionally, perceived performance mediated the domain identification and well-being effects of stereotype activation on high and low efficacy leaders.
Get full access to this article
View all access and purchase options for this article.
1.
1. Researchers have adopted varying labels for the distinction between the descriptive and prescriptive aspects of gender stereotypes. Eagly and Karau (2002) use role terminology, referring to the descriptive and injunctive aspects of gender roles, whereas others use stereotype terminology, referring to descriptive stereotypes, or gender stereotypes, and prescriptive stereotypes (Burgess & Borgida, 1999). This paper makes no distinction between the terms and uses them interchangeably.
2.
2. In this manuscript, priming the stereotype refers to the general operationalization of stereotype activation.
3.
3. Technology specifications: The head mounted display was a Virtual Research V8 HMD (a stereoscopic display with dual 680 horizontal by 480 vertical resolution LCD panels that refresh at 72 Hz). The optics of this display presented a visual stimulus subtending approximately 50 degrees horizontally by 38 degrees vertically. Perspectively correct stereoscopic images were rendered by a 450 MHz Pentium III dual processor computer with an Evans & Sutherland Tornado 3000 dual pipe graphics card, and these images were updated at an average frame rate of 36 Hz. The simulated viewpoint was continually updated by the participants' head movements. The orientation of the participant's head was tracked by a three-axis orientation sensing system (Intersense IS300, update rate of 150 Hz). The system latency, or the amount of delay between a participant's head motion and the resulting concomitant update in the HMD's visual display, was 65 ms maximum.
4.
4. During debriefing only four participants indicated suspicion that there were no other participants. Across both studies, analyses with and without suspicious participants yield similar results.
5.
5. These statistics were accurate at the time the experiment was conducted.
6.
6. Importantly, reverse causal effects cannot completely be ruled out. That is, oftentimes in mediational analyses if the mediator and the outcome variable are interchanged, the outcome seems to `cause' the mediator (Kenny, Kashy, & Bolger, 1998). Accordingly, in the present research interchanging perceived performance with the outcome variables yielded significant mediational effects. However, the plausibility of reverse causation is weakened by the experimental design in which the mediator was measured temporally prior to the outcome variables. The analyses in this manuscript focus on the causal paths based on a priori theoretical predictions.
References
Arkkelin, D., & Simmons, R. (1985). The `good manager': Sex-typed, androgynous, or likable? Sex Roles, 12, 1187—1198.
Aronson, J., Lustina, M.J., Good, C., Keough, K., Steele, C.M., & Brown, J. (1999). When White men can't do math: Necessary and sufficient factors in stereotype threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 29—46.
Aronson, J., Quinn, D.M., & Spencer, S.J. (1998). Stereotype threat and the academic underperformance of minorities and women . In J. K. Swim & C. Stangor (Eds.), Prejudice: The target's perspective (pp. 83—103). San Diego, CA: Academic Press, Inc.
Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37, 122—147.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman.
Bandura, A., & Cervone, D. (1983). Self-evaluative and self-efficacy mechanisms governing the motivational effects of goal systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 1017—1028.
Bandura, A., & Wood, R. (1989). Effect of perceived controllability and performance standards on self-regulation of complex decision-making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 805—814.
Barling, J., & Beattie, R. (1983). Self-efficacy beliefs and sales performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 5, 41—51.
Baron, R.M., & Kenny, D.A. (1986). The moderator—mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173—1182.
Bem, D. (1967). Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 74, 183—200.
Bergeron, D.M., Block, C.J., & Echtenkamp, B.A. (2006). Disabling the able: Stereotype threat and women's work performance. Human Performance, 19, 133—158.
Blascovich, J., Loomis, J., Beall, A., Swinth, K., Hoyt, C., & Bailenson, J. (2002). Immersive virtual environment technology as a methodological tool for social psychology. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 103—125
Blascovich, J., Spencer, S.J., Quinn, D., & Steele, C. (2001). African Americans and high blood pressure: The role of stereotype threat. Psychological Science, 12, 225—229.
Bohrnstedt, G.W., & Felson, R. (1983). Explaining the relations among children's actual and perceived performances and self-esteem: A comparison of several causal models. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 43—56.
Boldry, J., Wood, W., & Kashy, D.A. (2001). Gender stereotypes and the evaluation of men and women in military training. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 689—705.
Brehm, J.W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance. New York: Academic Press.
Broverman, I.K., Vogel, S.R., Broverman, D.M., Clarkson, F.E., & Rosenkrantz, P.S. (1972). Sex-role stereotypes: A current reappraisal. Journal of Social Issues, 28, 59—78.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2006). Women in the labor force: A databook. Retrieved 2 December 2006 from: http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook—2006.pdf
Burgess, D., & Borgida, E. (1999). Who women are, who women should be: Descriptive and prescriptive gender stereotyping in sex discrimination. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law, 5, 665—692.
Campbell, N.K., & Hackett, G. (1986). The effects of mathematics task performance on math selfefficacy and task interest. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 28, 149—162.
Carli, L.L. (2001). Gender and social influence. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 725—741.
Carli, L.L., & Eagly, A.H. (2001). Gender, hierarchy, and leadership: An introduction . Journal of Social Issues, 57, 629—636.
Catalyst (2002). Catalyst census of women corporate officers and top earners. New York: Catalyst.
Chemers, M.M., Watson, C.B., & May, S. (2000). Dispositional affect and leadership effectiveness: A comparison of self-esteem, optimism and efficacy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 267—277.
Davies, P.G., Spencer, S.J., & Quinn, D.M. (2002). Consuming images: How television commercials that elicit stereotype threat can restrain women academically and professionally . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1615—1628.
Davies, P.G., Spencer, S.J., & Steele, C.M. (2005). Clearing the air: Identity safety moderates the effects of stereotype threat on women's leadership aspirations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 276—287.
Deaux, K., & Lewis, L.L. (1983). Components of gender stereotypes. Psychological Documents, 13(2), MS. 2583 25.
Deaux, K., & Lewis, L.L. (1984). Structure of gender stereotypes: Inter-relationships among components and gender label. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 991—1004.
Dodge, K.A., Gilroy, F.D., & Fenzel, L.M. (1995). Requisite management characteristics revisited: Two decades later. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, 10, 253—264.
Eagly, A.H. (1987). Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Eagly, A.H., & Karau, S. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109, 573—598.
Eagly, A.H., Makhijani, M.G., & Klonsky, B.G. (1992). Gender and the evaluation of leaders: A meta-analysis . Psychological Bulletin, 111, 3—22.
Eagly, A.H., Wood, W., & Diekman, A.B. (2000). Social role theory of sex differences and similarities: A current appraisal. In T. Eckes & H. M. Trautner (Eds.), The developmental social psychology of gender (pp. 123—174). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Eckes, T. (1994). Explorations in gender cognition: Content and structure of female and male subtypes. Social Cognition, 12, 37—60.
Glick, P., & Fiske, S.T. (1996). The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 491—512.
Glick, P., & Fiske, S.T. (1999). Sexism and other `isms': Independence, status, and the ambivalent content of stereotypes. In W. B. Swann, Jr. & J. H. Langlois (Eds.), Sexism and stereotypes in modern society: The gender science of Janet Taylor Spence (pp. 193—221).Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Heatherton, T.F., & Polivy, J. (1991). Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 895—910.
Heilman, M.E. (2001). Description and prescription: How gender stereotypes prevent women's ascent up the organizational ladder. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 657—674.
Heilman, M.E., Block, C.J., & Martell, R.F.( 1995). Sex stereotypes: Do they influence perceptions of managers? Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 10, 237—252.
Heilman, M.E., Block, C.J., Martell, R.F., & Simon, M.C. (1989). Has anything changed? Current characterizations of men, women and managers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 935—942.
Hill, T., Smith, N.D., & Mann, M.F. (1987). Role of efficacy expectations in predicting the decision to use advanced technologies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 307—314.
Hoyt, C., Aguilar, L., Kaiser, C., Blascovich, J., & Lee, K. (in press). The self-protective and undermining effects of attributional ambiguity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Inzlicht, M., & Ben-Zeev, T. (2000). A threatening intellectual environment: Why females are susceptible to experiencing problem-solving deficits in the presence of males. Psychological Science, 11, 365—371.
Jex, S.M., & Bliese, P.D. (1999). Efficacy beliefs as a moderator of the impact of work-related stressors: A multilevel study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 349—361.
Joyce, A. (2006, 15 August). Fortune 500 gains female CEO in new PepsiCo chief. The Washington Post, pp. D01.
Kenny, D.A., Kashy, D.A., & Bolger, N. (1998). Data analysis in social psychology. In D. Gilbert, S. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (Vol. 1, 4th ed., pp. 233—265). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
Kray, L., Reb, J., Galinsky, A. & Thompson, L. (2004). Stereotype reactance at the bargaining table: The effect of stereotype activation and power on claiming and creating value . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 399—411.
Kray, L.J., Thompson, L., & Galinsky, A. (2001). Battle of the sexes: Gender stereotype confirmation and reactance in negotiations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 942—958.
Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, coping, and adaptation. New York: Springer.
Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., & Larkin, K.C. (1987). Comparison of three theoretically derived variables in predicting career and academic behavior: Self-efficacy, interest congruence, and consequence thinking. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34, 293—298.
Leyens, J., Désert, M., Croizet, J., & Darcis, C. (2000). Stereotype threat: Are lower status and history of stigmatization preconditions of stereotype threat? Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 1189—1199.
Lubin, B., Zuckerman, M., & Woodward, L. (1985). Bibilography for the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
Major, B., Spencer, S., Schmader, T., Wolfe, C., & Crocker, J. (1998). Coping with negative stereotypes about intellectual performance: The role of psychological disengagement. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 34—50.
Martell, R.F., Parker, C., Emrich, C.G., & Crawford, M.S. (1998). Sex stereotyping in the executive suite: `Much ado about something'. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 13, 127—138.
McIntyre, R.B., Paulson, R.M., & Lord, C.G. (2003). Alleviating women's mathematics stereotype threat through salience of group achievements. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 83—90.
Murphy, S.E. (1992). The contribution of leadership experience and self-efficacy to group performance under evaluation apprehension. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.
Murphy, S.E., Chemers, M.M., Kohles, J., & Macaulay, J.L. (2004). The contribution of leadership self-efficacy to performance under stress: An extension of cognitive resources theory. Unpublished manuscript.
Murphy, S.E. (2002). Leader self-regulation: The role of self-efficacy and multiple intelligences. In R.E. Riggio & S. E. Murphy (Eds.), Multiple intelligences and leadership (pp. 163—186). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates.
Pinel, E.C. (1999). Stigma consciousness: The psychological legacy of social stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 114—128.
Powell, G.N., & Butterfield, D.A. (1979). The `good manager': Masculine or androgynous? Academy of Management Journal, 22, 395—403.
Powell, G.N., & Butterfield, D.A. (1984). If `good managers' are masculine, what are `bad managers'? Sex Roles, 10, 477—484.
Powell, G.N., & Butterfield, D.A. (1989). The `good manager': Did androgyny fare better in the 1980s? Group and Organization Studies, 14, 216—233.
Ridgeway, C.L. (2001). Gender, status, and leadership. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 637—655.
Rosenwasser, S.M., & Dean, N.G. (1989). Gender role and political office: Effects of perceived masculinity/femininity of candidate and political office. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 13, 77—85.
Rudman, L.A., & Glick, P. (2001). Prescriptive gender stereotypes and backlash toward agentic women. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 743—762.
Schein, V.E. (1973). The relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 57, 95—100.
Schein, V.E. (2001). A global look at psychological barriers to women's progress in management. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 675—688.
Schmader, T. (2002). Gender identification moderates stereotype threat effects on women's math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 194—201.
Sczesny, S. (2003). A closer look beneath the surface: Various facets of the think-manager-think-male stereotype. Sex Roles, 49, 353—363.
Sekaquaptewa, D., & Thompson, M. (2003). Solo status, stereotype threat, and performance expectancies: Their effects on women's performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 68—74.
Sobel, M.E. (1982). Asymptotic intervals for indirect effects in structural equations models. In S. Leinhart (Ed.), Sociological methodology 1982 (pp. 290—312). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Spencer, S.J., Iserman, E., Davies, P.G., & Quinn, D.M. (2001). Suppression of doubts, anxiety, and stereotypes as a mediator of the effect of stereotype threat on women's math performance . Unpublished manuscript, University of Waterloo, Canada.
Steele, C.M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797—811.
Stoddard, T., Kliengklom, T., & Ben-Zeev, T. (2003, February). Stereotype threat, assimilation, and contrast effects, and subtlety of priming, or: `You say “Bitch” like it's a bad thing'. Paper presented at the annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, Los Angeles, CA.
Stumpf, S.A., Brief, A.P., & Hartman, K. (1987). Self-efficacy expectations and coping with career-related events. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 31, 91—108.
Swim, J.K., Hyers, L.L., Cohen, L.L., & Ferguson, M.J. (2001). Everyday sexism: Evidence for its incidence, nature, and psychological impact from three daily diary studies. Special Issue: Stigma: An insider's perspective. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 31—53.
Taylor, M.S., Locke, E.A., Lee, C., & Gist, M.E. (1984). Type A behavior and faculty research productivity: What are the mechanisms? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 34, 402—418.
Watson, C.B., Chemers, M.M., & Preiser, N. (1996, June). Collective efficacy: A multi-level analysis. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, San Francisco, CA.
Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92, 548—573.
White, J., & Gardner, W. (2003, February). Confidence as a moderator of the effect of solo status on performance in a workgroup. Paper presented at the annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, Los Angeles, CA.
Williams, J.E., & Best, D.L. (1990). Sex and psyche: Gender and self viewed cross-culturally . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Wood, W., Christensen, P.N., Hebl, M.R., & Rothgerber, H. (1997). Conformity to sex-typed norms, affects, and the self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 523—535.
Cite article
Cite article
Cite article
OR
Download to reference manager
If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice
Information, rights and permissions
Information
Published In
Article first published: October 2007
Issue published: October 2007
Keywords
Authors
Metrics and citations
Metrics
Journals metrics
This article was published in Group Processes & Intergroup Relations.
VIEW ALL JOURNAL METRICSArticle usage*
Total views and downloads: 1764
*Article usage tracking started in December 2016
Altmetric
See the impact this article is making through the number of times it’s been read, and the Altmetric Score.
Learn more about the Altmetric Scores
Articles citing this one
Receive email alerts when this article is cited
SIGN UP TO CITATION ALERTS (opens in new tab)
Web of Science: 71 view articles Opens in new tab
Crossref: 73
- Women rate the competence of their occupational role higher than men d...
- Status of women leadership in the Indian higher education sector
- Relationship Between Gender and Academic and Military Achievement Amon...
- Leader self-deprecating humor and employee creativity at workplace: a ...
- The effect of stereotype threat on females’ spatial perspective taking...
- Factors associated with general self-efficacy of women leaders in Indi...
- Stereotype Threat Theory in Organizational Research: Constructive Anal...
- Ideology shapes how workers perceive and react to workplace discrimina...
- Gender and the pandemic: Associations between caregiving, working from...
- ‘All eyes are on you’: Gender, race, and opinion writing on the US Cou...
- Principal Efficacy Beliefs for Instructional Leadership and their Rela...
- Investigating career progression experiences of women into top managem...
- Kadına Yönelik Kalıpyargı Dönüşümünün Göstergebilimsel Açıdan İncelenm...
- The Power of Leadership in Engineering Management Education
- Better marketing for female marketers: Gendered language in the Forbes...
- The applied implications of age-based stereotype threat for older adul...
- White Evangelical Activism and the Gender Divide in the 2016 President...
- Coping With Stigma in the Workplace: Understanding the Role of Threat ...
- Sources of Male and Female Students’ Belonging Uncertainty in the Comp...
- Labelling them is negating them
- Lean In Versus the Literature: An Evidence-Based Examina...
- Virtual Reality: Whence, How and What For
- Subliminal Gender Stereotypes: Who Can Resist?
- Narcissistic rhetoric and crowdfunding performance: A social role theo...
- The queen bee: A myth? The effect of top-level female leadership on su...
- Women as Political Leaders: a Bibliometric Analysis of the Literature
- The effect of locus of control, leadership experience, generalized sel...
- Women and Leadership in the United States: Are We Closing the Gender G...
- Identifying and Living Leadership in the Lives of Prekindergarten Thro...
- Society of Counseling Psychology Leadership Academy: Cultivating Leade...
- Counter-Stereotypes and Feminism Promote Leadership Aspirations in Hig...
- If stigmatized, self-esteem is not enough: Effects of sexism, self-est...
- Reducing Implicit Gender Leadership Bias in Academic Medicine With an ...
- Lifetime Video Game Consumption, Interpersonal Aggression, Hostile Sex...
- Managing to clear the air: Stereotype threat, women, and leadership
- Umgang mit Feedback bei zwei ausgewählten Personengruppen des schulisc...
- African Women in Leadership: The Missing Link
- Sexualized Avatars Lead to Women’s Self-Objectification and Acceptance...
- Barriers and Challenges Minority Men and Women Experienced With Senior...
- Implicit Processes and Emotions in Stereotype Threat about Women's Lea...
- Is Stereotype Threat a Useful Construct for Organizational Psychology ...
- Toward a Comprehensive Understanding of Stereotype Vulnerability and S...
- I See Me the Way You See Me...
- Social Identities and Leadership: The Case of Gender
- Developing the Leadership Capacity and Leader Efficacy of College Wome...
- Women's participation as leaders in society: an adolescent girls' pers...
- Inspirational or Self-Deflating...
- Exploring the effect of media images on women’s leadership self-percep...
- “It's not you, it's me”: transformational leadership and self‐deprecat...
- An Educational Intervention Designed to Increase Women's Leadership Se...
- The moderating role of social ties on entrepreneurs' depressed affect ...
- Leader Self and Means Efficacy: A multi-component approach
- Does Stereotype Threat Affect Women in Academic Medicine?
- When Do Counterstereotypic Ingroup Members Inspire Versus Deflate? The...
- I Can Do That...
- Biosocial Construction of Sex Differences and Similarities in Behavior
- Barriers to Women Managers Climb the Peaks of Success
- “Some Like it Hot!”: Interpreting and Responding to Diversity Issues a...
- Taking a Turn Toward the Masculine: The Impact of Mortality Salience o...
- Ingroup Experts and Peers as Social Vaccines Who Inoculate the Self-Co...
- Review of Virtual Environment Studies on Social and Group Phenomena
- Female Leaders: Injurious or Inspiring Role Models for Women?
- The impact of blatant stereotype activation and group sex-composition ...
- Individual differences in implicit theories of leadership ability and ...
- Women, Men, and Leadership: Exploring the Gender Gap at the Top
- Gender
- The role of leadership self-efficacy and stereotype activation on card...
- Gender and Leadership: Negotiating the Labyrinth
- Choosing the best (wo)man for the job: The effects of mortality salien...
- Virtual Reality
- Exploring the Gender Gap in Support for a Woman for President
- Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 10 Years On: Development, ...
- Implicit Processes and Emotions in Stereotype Threat about Women's Lea...
Figures and tables
Figures & Media
Tables
View Options
Get access
Access options
If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:
loading institutional access options
Alternatively, view purchase options below:
Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.
Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.
