Effects of Gender and Communication Content on Leadership Emergence in Small Task-Oriented Groups

This investigation examined the role played by gender and communication content in the leadership emergence process in small, task-oriented groups. Six hours of transcribed group interaction from a sample of the group deliberations of six mixed-sex groups engaged in a 4-month long decision-making project served as the database for the analysis. A simple regression analysis identified task-relevant communication as being the sole significant predictor of emerged leadership. Production of task-relevant communication explained more than 48% of the variance in emerged leadership. Subsequent analysis revealed that no significant gender differences existed in the production of task-relevant communication. Implications of these findings for the study of gender, communication, and leadership are presented.