Description
The term “follower” is controversial because it summons images of passive, powerless individuals. The followership literature asserts that followers can take on more positive roles and examines how followers view and engage in a variety of behaviors in relation to leaders. Although a large literature has developed on gender and leadership, research on gender and followership is largely non-existent. Thus, the purpose of this thesis was to fill this gap and contribute to the larger body of work on women in the workplace. Participants in this study were working undergraduate students (N=284). Data was collected through an in-lab, computer-based study with three parts. Part 1 measured the implicit associations individuals hold between women and the concept of followers versus men and followers, using a Single-Categorization IAT. Part 2 compared the characteristics of effective followers with the characteristics associated with men and women. Part 3 examined how women versus men were viewed when taking on a range of follower behaviors on various workplace outcomes. The results of the IAT in Part 1 suggested that males and females were perceived as equally associated with the term “follower,” although associations did vary based on participant gender. For Part 2, ICC values indicated that the characteristics of females in general and female followers were both significantly more similar to the characteristics of effective followers than both male conditions. For Part 3, ANOVAs revealed that followers were typically perceived as most effective and the most well liked when they displayed active follower role behaviors, regardless of their gender. Although proactive followers were perceived as being more effective than passive followers, there was a preference for passive followers. This study found that although the characteristics of female and males differed, perceptions of effectiveness of followers were not largely influenced by gender. Although these results suggest a general trend in decreasing stereotypes in organizations, because research in gender effects on followership is in its infancy, there is much more to be explored before this can be concluded.
