As leader identity research in the context of leader development continues to expand, it is important to understand the mechanisms through... Show moreAs leader identity research in the context of leader development continues to expand, it is important to understand the mechanisms through which leader identity becomes more central to one’s self concept. Structured leadership reflection is proposed to positively impact leader development but has not been experimentally manipulated to understand what its impact is on leader identity change. In this study, 90 participants were assigned into one of three reflection conditions and were asked to respond to reflection prompts over the course of four days. Participants were divided into the control condition, the reflecting on others as leaders condition, or the reflecting on oneself as a leader condition. Results showed no significant differences between reflection groups and their impact on leader identity change. Though our results do not provide support for the use of structured reflection to elicit leader identity development, we suggest future research should further study structured self-reflection over a longer period of time. Show less
Ely, Ibarra, and Kolb (2011) theorize that the leader identity work among women is an area of work wherein subtle gender bias is pervasive and... Show moreEly, Ibarra, and Kolb (2011) theorize that the leader identity work among women is an area of work wherein subtle gender bias is pervasive and impacting women’s advancement in the workplace. Interferences with the leader identity development process not only impact how a woman views herself as a leader, but how others collectively come to endorse her as a leader. Simply observing an individual claiming leadership and having that leadership be granted by someone else is known to influence how an observer classifies an individual as a leader or a non-leader. This study examines how the gender of an individual claiming leadership impacts external perceptions of how leader-like they are to others, when they are granted vs. not granted leadership. To examine this gap, this study uses an experimental vignette methodology to explore the impact of gender on leadership perceptions, during a claiming and granting process. Specifically, this work examines the mediating roles of competence and likability, as potential drivers through which differences may occur. Though women today are evaluated as equally competent as their male counterparts, engaging in dominant, agentic, behaviors, may make them less likable, and rated less leader-like as a result. The results of this study did not find an interaction between gender and granting, on perceived likability. The results did replicate existing findings that claiming leadership is not enough to be relationally recognized as a leader, and that granting from others plays an important role in how competent, and subsequently leader-like, an individual is perceived to be. Show less
