The Interplay of Evolutionary Roles and Social Roles on Authentic Leadership

The present research explores authentic leadership through the follower centric lens, with the application of leader prototypes and gender roles. I hypothesized based on past authentic leadership, gender role, and prototype research that (1) male leaders would be perceived as more authentic than female leaders (2) agentic leaders will be perceived as more authentic than communal leaders and (3) agentic female leaders will be perceived as less authentic than communal/agentic male leaders and communal female leaders. The results of the three studies did not support my presented hypotheses. The results ended up supporting the null hypothesis. No main effect of leader gender was identified, nor was there a significant effect of leader gender and condition interaction. Leader condition had a significant effect across all three studies, with communal leaders being perceived as more authentic.