Gender and Leadership Aspiration: Supervisor Gender, Support, and Job Control

Claudia Fritz, Daan van Knippenberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Understanding the role of leadership aspiration in the under-representation of female leaders is important, because aspiration is a key predictor of hierarchical advancement. A neglected perspective in the relationship between gender and leadership aspiration is the gender of the individual's supervisor. Supervisors can play an important role in providing support and in engendering a sense of control, and both support and control are precursors to leadership aspiration. Yet, supervisors may also act on gender biases that discourage women's leadership aspiration. We argue that there is an interaction between supervisor and subordinate gender such that men experience relatively high levels of support and control regardless of supervisor gender, whereas women experience more support and control and as a result display higher leadership aspiration with a female supervisor. A survey of N = 402 men and women supported these hypotheses regarding the subordinate gender by supervisor gender interactive influence on leadership aspiration, support, control, and the mediated moderation model.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)741-768
Number of pages28
JournalApplied Psychology
Volume69
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

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