Leadership and power relationships based on culture and gender

Abstract

Leadership and power are often used to influence people’s behavior. However, little is known about the degree and directional relationship between these two constructs and gender. Equally unknown is the degree of impact that culture and gender together may have on such a relationship. This paper attempts to establish an empirical relationship between these two constructs and culture along with gender. Baba and Ace’s modified instruments on leadership and Hinkin and Schriesheim’s instrument on five sources of power were used in surveying 486 students from four business schools in Korea and the USA to derive functional relationships between leadership and power. Results suggest there is a statistically significant relationship between power and leadership and that gender has an impact on that relationship. However, this study does not support the contention that gender plays an important role in cross‐cultural environments; instead, it plays an important role only when considered within a specific culture.