Leader Reactions to Their Own Gender-Based Image Threat: Why Leaders React Functionally and Dysfunctionally (2024)

Undergraduate: Abigail Fleri

Faculty Advisor: Marie Mitchell
Department: Kenan Flagler Business School

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Leadership literature has long explored the impacts of leader gender and behaviors on subordinate perceptions; however, it lacks a nuanced understanding of how these factors impact leaders’ experiences in the workplace. Furthermore, while previous research has established the existence of strong gender norms, it has not exhaustively explored the impact of these norms on leader image and subsequent behavior. In this thesis, I argue leaders respond to gender-based image threat in one of two ways: functionally or dysfunctionally. To test this proposal, I implemented a correlational study design, surveying leaders across multiple time periods, to assess leader perceptions and behaviors. This thesis finds that while gender-role inconsistent behavior does not significantly affect image threat, self-regulation depletion does and serves as a potential mechanism by which leaders who behave gender-inconsistently experience image threat. Furthermore, the results showed that image threat is significantly and negatively related to functional leader behaviors and significantly and positively related to dysfunctional leader behaviors, providing important insights into leaders’ experiences.