If You Are like Me, I Think You Are More Authentic: An Analysis of the Interaction of Follower and Leader Gender

Abstract

Within the empirical literature related to leadership, female leaders are regularly rated higher on dimensions such as being transformational and being effective. Some studies have found that gender plays a role in the follower-leader relationship, and this interaction can be assessed. An emerging model of leadership is authentic leadership. This article analyzed whether there was an interaction between the gender of the leader and gender of the follower when assessing how authentic leaders were. Female follower rated female leaders higher on authenticity than male leaders, while male followers rated male leaders as more authentic than female leaders. Implications for the practice of leadership are discussed.