The gender difference in leadership effectiveness and its Sino-US comparison

Abstract

Purpose There are mainly two viewpoints on women’s leadership effectiveness compared with that of men – the questioning view and the admiring view, two points of view that are not in agreement. Based on that, this study aims to find the gender difference in leadership effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach This study uses carefully matched male and female presidents (223 pairs) of Chinese listed companies and male and female chief executive officers (141 pairs) of American listed companies as samples. Analysis of variance was conducted to analyze the indicator data of the leadership effectiveness. Findings The findings show that women’s leadership effectiveness is not significantly inferior to that of men, and that women’s leadership effectiveness compared to that of men in the Chinese cultural context is not inferior to that in the American cultural context. The findings do not support the questioning view of women’s leadership effectiveness. Originality/value This study first uses the carefully matched (female/male leaders) data of Chinese listed companies and American listed companies as samples to find which viewpoint (the questioning view and the admiring view) is supported or is not supported.