Survey experiment reveals that leadership preferences for traits vary by managerial level in Dutch healthcare employees, indicating subtle barriers for women.
Key Points
This research examines what traits define a ‘good manager’ in the female-dominated healthcare sector and how these traits vary across different managerial levels.
Conducted a survey experiment among 3,432 Dutch healthcare employees
Participants rated lower- and higher-level managers on agentic and communal characteristics
Random assignment to different managerial levels to assess preferences
Leadership preferences do not show a significant overall preference for agentic over communal characteristics (p>0.05)
Lower-level managers are preferred to display communal traits while higher-level managers are preferred to show agentic traits
Male employees show a preference for agentic traits, whereas female employees favor communal traits