Qualifications, Willingness to Lead, and Gender Debiasing in Leader Selection

47 Pages Posted: 14 Mar 2023

See all articles by Yutong Li

Yutong Li

Renmin University of China

Xianghong Wang

Renmin University of China

Jie Zheng

Shandong University - Center for Economic Research

Abstract

This study examines how leader selection is affected by individual qualifications and willingness to lead using laboratory experiments. The experimental treatments are whether the candidate’s information involves the willingness to lead (WTL), and whether the group leader’s task emphasizes ability or leader’s group responsibility. The votes for women increase when the selection does not involve willingness to lead.  In the ability setting, WTL is higher for men than for women;  leaders of both genders perform equally well.   In the responsibility setting, the level of WTL is similar for men and women; male leaders’ performance is invariant to the information treatment, while female leaders with elicited WTL perform better than their counterparts with no such elicitation.

Keywords: leader selection, willingness to lead, Gender differences, leader qualifications

Suggested Citation

Li, Yutong and Wang, Xianghong and Zheng, Jie, Qualifications, Willingness to Lead, and Gender Debiasing in Leader Selection. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4388577 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4388577

Yutong Li

Renmin University of China ( email )

Room B906
Xianjin Building
Beijing, 100872
China

Xianghong Wang (Contact Author)

Renmin University of China ( email )

Jie Zheng

Shandong University - Center for Economic Research ( email )

Jinan, Shandong 250100
China

HOME PAGE: http://https://meetecon.com/jie/

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