Leadership Research Summary:
- This study examined the existence of gender differences in the degree to which leaders’ perceptions of successor potential is influenced by interpersonal fit. In Study 1 (N = 97 leaders, N = 280 followers), multi-source field data revealed that for male leaders, ratings of followers’ potential as successors were positively related to interpersonal fit, measured by the degree to which followers’ saw their leadership as being close and interpersonal (i.e., being coaching, transformational, and leading by example).
- For female leaders, these relationships were absent, suggesting that they are less influenced by interpersonal fit. In Study 2 (N = 311 leaders), a scenario study provided causal evidence that male leaders rated potential successors more positively when they perceived greater interpersonal fit with followers, whereas female leaders’ successor ratings were not informed by perceptions of fit.
Leadership Research Implications and Findings:
- Current theorizing on the root causes underlying gender inequality in the work place suggests that the emphasis that male leaders’ place on social similarities and fit in selecting their prospective successors represents a key contributor to the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions (Byrne, 1971; Koch et al., 2015). Empirically, however, there is ambiguity about the existence of leader gender differences in the reliance on fit perceptions in developing informal networks (McDonald, 2011). Prior observed effects are obtained primarily through archival data and could thus be explained by women’s lack of opportunities in creating the social support they desire, rather than by their preferences for fit (Fischer and Oliker, 1983; Moore, 1990).
- Moreover, with such data, it is impossible to establish whether psychological interpersonal fit indeed explains why (male) management networks are homogeneous in nature. We therefore believe that our systematic comparison of male and female leaders’ responses to interpersonal fit when informally selecting successors for future leader roles has important theoretical implications for gender research. First, the results across the two studies largely confirm our central proposition that male leaders consider interpersonal fit more relevant in their evaluations of potential successors, hereby supporting the idea that male leaders’ informal network choices (perhaps unintentionally) keep the old boys’ network in place.
- As past research has demonstrated that such networks generate great benefits for the career advancement of male followers (Garman and Glawe, 2004; Linehan and Scullion, 2008), the study’s findings indeed imply that male leaders’ preference for interpersonal fit may inadvertently create barriers to women’s career progression (McDonald, 2011).
- Second, the study’s finding that female leaders, compared to their male counterparts, give less weight to fit perceptions when evaluating potential successors has important implications for the ongoing debate on women’s successor and sponsorship strategies once in power. The findings suggests that women are neither “change agents,” as they seem not to prefer similar others, such as other women, nor are they simply “cogs in a machine,” as they do not tend to prefer dissimilar others either (i.e., men; Lyness and Thompson, 2000; Cohen and Huffman, 2007; Stainback et al., 2016). Rather, female leaders tend to disregard issues of interpersonal fit when making succession judgments.
- One may argue that female leaders are fairer when it comes to succession decisions, being less swayed by interpersonal fit and instead relying simply on the competence of the potential successor. Hence, the researcher’s work points out that in attempting to erode gender inequality, we need to not only alleviate selection biases that prevent women from entering leadership positions in the first place but also we need to better understand women’s perceptions of followers once they are in a leadership position.