Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Leadership--Psychological aspects; Sex differences (Psychology); Stereotypes (Social psychology);
Abstract
Men and women are believed to vary along stereotypical male and female leadership behaviors (Cann & Siegfried, 1990; Eagly & Johnson, 1990). Stereotypic leadership behaviors for men are defined as task and goal oriented behavior, whereas for women, it is interpersonal or social behavior. The present study explored the leadership behavior of male and female students in student organizations at a mid-western state university. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI; Posner & Kouzes, 1988) was used to assess leadership behavior in the student organizations. The leaders of 100 student organizations, 50 males and 50 females, were contacted and asked to fill out a survey assessing their own leadership behaviors. Executive cabinet members of each organization, one male and one female, were also asked to fill out a survey rating the leader on the same leadership behavior. Specifically, this study addressed the question of "Do men and women lead differently in student organizations?" The results were mixed. Of the five dimensions of leadership that the LPI assessed, there was an overall gender difference between the leaders on one dimension. This dimension, Modeling the Way, measures leadership behavior pertaining to values, beliefs, and setting clear goals for the group. Women reported utilizing this dimension more than men did in their leadership practices. There was no significant interaction between the gender of the rater evaluating the leader and the gender of the leader. The student organizations were divided into four categories: academic, Greek, religious, and social. It was hypothesized that gender differences would be more salient in academic and social organizations due to the amount of structure these groups have relative to Greek and religious organizations. This hypothesis was not supported.
Year of Submission
1999
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Psychology
First Advisor
Michael Gasser
Second Advisor
Jane L. Wong
Third Advisor
Helen C. Harton
Date Original
1999
Object Description
1 PDF file (98 leaves)
Copyright
©1999 Jennifer Cullen Danielson
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Danielson, Jennifer Cullen, "Leadership in Student Organizations: Do Women and Men Lead Stereotypically?" (1999). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2459.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2459
Comments
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