Do Women Value the Domains of Leadership Differently than Men?

Abstract

A comparative study was conducted to determine if women value the various domains of leadership differently than men, and, if they differ, to determine if the differences are consistent across leadership positions. Seventy-two actively employed educators completed a short online leadership survey where they were asked to report their gender and current academic position (teacher leader or administrator). In addition the participants were asked to rate (4-point Likert scale) the importance of the four domains of leadership strength (relationship building, strategic thinking, executing ideas, and influencing others) suggested by Rath and Conchie (2008). A two-way MANOVA was conducted to determine if any significant main or interaction effects could be found for gender and academic position for each of the four self-rated domains of leadership strength. A statistically significant (α=.05) difference was only found for gender. A significant main effect for gender was found for both strategic thinking, F (1 ,68) = 4.85, p = .031, η2 = .067, and for relationship building, F (1 ,68) = 9.42, p = .003, η2 = .122, with men (M = 3.06, SD = 1.14) scoring significantly higher than women (M = 2.31, SD = 1.18) on the strategic thinking domain and women (M = 2.71, SD = 1.3) scoring significantly higher than men (M = 1.65, SD = 1.11) on the relationship building domain. These results suggest that women perceive the relationship building domain of leadership as more important than men. If the findings of Rath and Conchie's study are valid, women could become more effective leaders if they adopt a leadership style they prefer, which the present study suggests may differ from that of men. In addition, the results suggest women may be more effective mentors because of the importance they place on relationship building.. Keywords: gender, leadership domains.