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Think manager—think male, think follower—think female: Gender bias in implicit followership theories
Author(s) -
Braun Stephan,
Stegmann Sebastian,
Hernandez Bark Alina S.,
Junker Nina M.,
van Dick Rolf
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12445
Subject(s) - followership , psychology , social psychology , implicit association test , connotation , test (biology) , ideal (ethics) , association (psychology) , epistemology , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , psychotherapist , biology
Because of the overlap between the social roles of women and followers, we predicted that people would show a bias, that is, favor female followers over male followers. To support this hypothesis, we conducted two studies: An explicit test of the bias using a scenario design and an implicit association test (IAT)‐based study. Both studies show that the role of an ideal follower is more strongly associated with the female gender role, which seems to be caused partly by a more communal connotation of the follower role. This effect might contribute to the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions as they are perceived to be an ideal fit for followership positions; but it may also push men away from being followers and into leadership positions.