Gender and leadership emergence: An experimental study

Abstract

This investigation examined the skill and gender of individual group discussants and the gender composition of the group as factors potentially affecting perceptions of emergent leadership. Results highlighted the relationship between performing procedural behaviors and being perceived as a group leader and pointed to complexities associated with the group's gender composition. Although acknowledging the role of gender, however, the results confirmed that task competence was crucially related to any individual's emerging as a group's leader.