The role of leadership efficacy and stereotype activation in women's identification with leadership.

The primary goal of this research was to examine the role of leadership efficacy as a moderator of domain identification responses to the think-leader--think-male stereotype. Manipulating stereotype activation, results from eighty-five female participants indicated that women with high levels of leadership efficacy demonstrated a heightened identification with the leadership domain after exposure to negative stereotypes compared to the control condition (a reactance response); stereotype activation did not significantly alter domain identification in women with lower levels of leadership efficacy. The results are discussed in terms of both their practical implications and their theoretical significance.

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Individuals in key leadership positions in organizations and governments are responsible for making important and far-reaching decisions that influence many aspects of society (Carli & Eagly, 2001). The critical role of leadership in the advancement of society was eloquently summed up by Harry S. Truman: "Men (sic) make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better." Individuals often face hardships and stressors in these influential roles and a strong belief in their capabilities can help them effectively navigate these demanding situations.

Many women confront stressors in the leadership role that stem from stereotypical expectations and biases. Although there have been many important social changes in America within the last 40 years, the insidious perception that women are stereotypically feminine and do not fit the image of an ideal leader is still pervasive (Chemers, 1997). These negative perceptions not only affect the evaluation and perception of women in a leadership role but they may also affect women's perceptions of themselves as leaders. This research examines the role of leadership efficacy in protecting women's identification with leadership when confronted with negative stereotypes.

Leadership Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy refers to the "beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments" (Bandura, 1997, p. 3). The vast literature on self-efficacy reveals the powerful role of this motivational construct in influencing activity choices, the level of goals set, effort and persistence at the task, coping with adversity, and performance (Bandura 1982, Bandura, 1997; Bandura & Cervone, 1983; Carver, Peterson, Follansbee, & Scheier, 1983; Lindsley, Brass, & Thomas, 1995; Locke, Frederick, Lee & Bobko, 1984). Thus, self-efficacy is critical in not only influencing what skills individuals perceive to have in a particular domain, but also influencing what they perceive they can do with their skills (Chemers, 2001).

Leadership self-efficacy refers to one's perception regarding his or her general capabilities to lead (Murphy, 1992). Substantial research has highlighted the effectiveness of leadership efficacy in predicting leadership, group, and organizational outcomes (Hoyt, Murphy, Halverson & Watson, 2003; Chemers, Watson, & May, 2000; Watson, Chemers, & Preiser, 1996; Murphy, 2001). For example, examining Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets, Chemers and colleagues found that leadership efficacy was strongly predictive of leadership potential ratings (Chemers, Watson, & May, 2000). Additionally, basketball team leaders with high efficacy had teams that were both more confident and more successful than those with lower efficacy and leadership efficacy was a better predictor of basketball team performance than other common predictors (e.g., previous year's win-Joss record, number of returning lettered players; Watson et al., 1996).

Gender Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes, which refer to cognitive structures that influence the way individuals' process information regarding men and women, are persistent, well documented, and highly resistant to change (Dodge, Gilroy & Fenzel, 1995; Hamilton, Stroessner, & Driscoll, 1994; Heilman, 2001). Gender stereotypes contain both descriptive and prescriptive elements in that they not only describe the stereotypic beliefs about women and men but they also prescribe how men and women should, or ought to, be (Burgess & Borgida, 1999; Glick & Fiske, 1999).

The gender stereotypes that directly relate to the leadership domain are those that revolve around communal attributes (e.g., women are stereotyped as sensitive, warm, kind, and nurturing) and agentic attributes (e.g., men are stereotyped as independent, assertive, competitive, and decisive; Broverman, Vogel, Broverman, Clarkson, & Rosenkrantz, 1972; Eagly, 1987; Eagly, Wood, & Diekman, 2000; Heilman, 2001). In leadership roles, agentic, as opposed to communal, tendencies are often indispensable thus making gender stereotypes particularly pernicious for women leaders. Indeed, Eagly and Karau's (2002) role congruity theory maintains that the agentic qualities deemed necessary in the leadership role are incompatible with the predominantly communal qualities associated with women. In support of this think-leader--think-male stereotype (Sczesny, 2003), substantial empirical evidence suggests that successful leaders are often thought to require and are often described as possessing stereotypically male attributes (Arkkelin & Simmons, 1985; Martell, Parker, Emrich, & Crawford, 1998; Powell & Butterfield, 1979, 1984, 1989; Rosenwasser & Dean, 1989; Schein, 1973, 1975, 2001).

Perception and Evaluation of Women Leaders

According to role congruity theory, the perceived incongruity between the female gender role and the leadership role leads to two forms of prejudice against women leaders (Eagly & Karau, 2002). First, the descriptive aspect of the gender stereotype leads people to perceive women as more communal and less agentic, thus perceiving them as less qualified for leadership positions. Second, the prescriptive component of the stereotype suggests that when women leaders successfully demonstrate favorable leadership characteristics they are perceived less favorably because those behaviors are inconsistent with expectations of appropriate (and desired) female behaviors. Together, these two forms of prejudice can account for research findings that indicate less favorable attitudes toward female than male leaders, greater difficulty for women to attain top leadership roles, and greater difficulty for these women to be viewed as effective in these roles (Eagly & Karau, 2002).

Effect of Stereotype Activation on Women Leaders

Not only can this role incompatibility affect others' perceptions and evaluations of women leaders, the think-leader--think-male stereotype can have deleterious effects on women leaders' self-perceptions. The model of stereotype threat, supported by considerable empirical evidence, highlights the crucial role of negative stereotypes in undermining the ability assessments and performance of targets of the stereotypes (Aronson, Quinn, & Spencer, 1998; Steele & Aronson, 1995); that is, activation of the stereotype leads to confirmation of the stereotype. For example, activation of the stereotype of female inferiority in the math domain has been linked to women's decreased performance on math exams (Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999). The stereotype threat model suggests that this process is likely to occur on complex, evaluative tasks for which there exist negative stereotypes of a group; thus, stereotype activation is likely to influence women in the leadership domain. Finally, in addition to decreased performance, one of the most menacing outcomes of stereotype activation on the targets of the stereotype is that these individuals may psychologically disengage (disidentify) from the stereotype relevant domain. Thus, negative stereotypes may have the potential to contribute to women's disengagement from the leadership role.

Although considerable research highlights the deleterious effects of stereotype activation, other research points to the more benign, or even beneficial, effects. That is, there is evidence that some individuals demonstrate a reactance response when presented with a negative stereotype associated with their group. According to Brehm's (1966) psychological reactance theory, people respond to threats to their freedom by trying to reassert their sense of freedom. In an empirical demonstration of this theory researchers found a greater amount of graffiti left on a bathroom wall that had a sign strictly forbidding people to write on the wall compared to a wall with a sign nicely asking people to refrain from writing on it (Pennebaker & Sanders, 1976).