The Effects of Prototype-Based Biases on Leadership Appraisals

Leadership categorization theory suggests that leaders who display characteristics and abilities that match observers' schematic conception of an effective leader will be more favorably evaluated than leaders who violate observers' leadership prototypes. In a test of this model, 92 male and 84 female subjects endorsing a number of different leadership prototypes were instructed to evaluate a male or female leader who acted in a task-oriented or socioemotional-oriented manner. In rating leader effectiveness, subjects showed a clear bias in favor of leaders who matched their particular prototypes, although males tended to base their ratings on prototypes more so than females.!n ratings of leader collegiality, however, prototype-based biases were noted only when subjects evaluated female leaders. These ratings were not always consistent with the predictions of leadership categorization theory. These findings suggest that biases against female leaders may stem, in part, from the incongruity between subordinates' leadership prototypes and stereotypical conceptions of men and women.