Stereotyping leadership: An investigation about leaders’ perception

The objective of this study is to evaluate gender and cultural differences in the perception of male and female leaders in a feedback situation. The research is based upon considerations from a literature review in the fields of gender bias and stereotypes previously conducted. Subjects from Spain and Germany were asked to evaluate a director (male or female) in a fictive feedback situation that was described prior to a short questionnaire. The questions of the questionnaire were based on previous research and findings of the literature review. We tested if previous experience with a woman leader was related to a higher evaluation of the female leader and if there was a relationship between the previous experience with a female leader and the preference to work for a certain leader’s gender. Results from the study show that gender, culture and previous experience with a female leader had no influence on the leader’s evaluation. A discussion with possible interpretations of the findings and implication for further research follows.