‘If they can lead,I can too’: supervisors,social comparisons and women’s leadership aspiration / ‘Si ellos pueden liderar’,yo también: superiores,comparación social y aspiración de liderazgo de las mujeres

Abstract

Our research examines which factors enable women to relate to and aspire for stereotype-inconsistent roles, like leadership. Across two studies, we tested the effects of supervisor gender and supervisor characteristics on women's social comparisons and their leadership aspiration. Our first survey study (N = 303) found that women had higher social comparisons with communal supervisors irrespective of supervisor gender. Our second experiment (N = 465) found that women had higher social comparisons with female supervisors and with communal supervisors. Overall, we found that social comparisons serve as a mediator that enhances women's leadership aspiration. By focusing on social comparisons as a psychological mechanism, we address the value of stereotype-inconsistent supervisors as presenting women with the opportunity to relate to such exemplars and envision occupying roles that dismantle existing gender-leader stereotypes through increased leadership aspiration.