Male or Female Athletic Director? Exploring Perceptions of Leader Effectiveness and a (Potential) Female Leadership Advantage with Intercollegiate Athletic Directors

Abstract

We investigated whether transformational leadership was associated with more positive perceptions of outcomes among intercollegiate athletic directors in the U.S. Also, we examined whether leader gender influenced perceptions of participants, and if there was an interaction between leadership style and leader gender in predicting organizational outcomes. Division I and II male participants (n=99) evaluated either a male or female transactional or transformational leader on extra effort, satisfaction, and effectiveness. MANOVA and post hoc analyses were used in our evaluation. Findings indicated transformational leadership was related to more positive organizational outcomes, that there was no difference between male and female leaders on attaining these outcomes, and that there was no interaction between leadership style and leader gender.

NIRSA Championship Series Volunteerism: The Perceived Impact on Professional Development

“…Authoritarian leadership principles are considered an agentic characteristic, while active listening is a communal characteristic. In previous research on gendered stereotypes, women tend to display more communal characteristics and males generally exhibit more agentic behaviors (Welty Peachey & Burton, 2011). As such, it appears that the male and female volunteers in our study might be conforming to prescriptive gender roles identified in Social Role Theory, which was highlighted in previous analyses (Eagly & Karau, 2002;Eagly, Wood, & Dickman, 2000).…”

“…Autocratic leadership scores were also higher, and while there are situations in which an autocratic style is preferred (c.f. Beam, Serwatka, & Wilson, 2004), leadership scholars have more recently found that a more supportive, democratic, or transformational style achieves better outcomes (Welty Peachey & Burton, 2011). The fact that Series volunteers perceived themselves as using both more democratic and authoritarian styles is puzzling and warrants further exploration.…”

Transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior: Mediating role of affective commitment

“…21 For example, Chelladurai 21 claims that since sports organizations nowadays are in an increasingly dynamic environment, they constantly face contextual issues (e.g., diversity, ethics, league changes, and gender issues) that require transformational leadership. Indeed, several empirical studies have found that athletic directors’ transformational leadership style was positively associated with followers’ satisfaction with leaders, 22 job satisfaction, 23 perceived leadership effectiveness, 24 and decreased turnover intention. 25…”

The Relationship between Transformational Leadership, Leader Effectiveness, and Turnover Intentions: Do Subordinate Gender Differences Exist?

“…For the past 50 years, a vast body of literature has focused on the evolution of leadership paradigms (Higgs, 2003). Recently, transformational and transactional leadership behaviors have been the focus of managerial literature (Judge & Piccolo, 2004;Yukl, 2006) and have garnered attention among sport scholars as well (Burton & Peachey, 2009;Choi, Sagas, Park, & Cunningham, 2007;Doherty & Danylchuk, 1996;Wells & Welty Peachey, 2011;Welty Peachey & Burton, 2011.…”