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Women's Aspiration for Leadership - An Experimental Study on Agency and Gender

Löw, Vicky LU (2016) PSYP01 20152
Department of Psychology
Abstract
The present study examined the effect of manipulated (threatened or affirmed) sense of agency on Swedish students’ preference for leadership, by ease of retrieval. Three hundred and twelve students (Mage = 23.04, SD = 2.70) participated in the experiment. The aim of the study was to investigate whether individuals’ leadership preferences was affected by perceived sense of agency. By contrasting a role as a leader and a role as a problem solver, participants rated their interest for each. In total N = 312 participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions (threatened agency, affirmed agency or no agency manipulation). The hypothesis that an agency threat should lead to a decreased preference for a leadership role, as... (More)
The present study examined the effect of manipulated (threatened or affirmed) sense of agency on Swedish students’ preference for leadership, by ease of retrieval. Three hundred and twelve students (Mage = 23.04, SD = 2.70) participated in the experiment. The aim of the study was to investigate whether individuals’ leadership preferences was affected by perceived sense of agency. By contrasting a role as a leader and a role as a problem solver, participants rated their interest for each. In total N = 312 participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions (threatened agency, affirmed agency or no agency manipulation). The hypothesis that an agency threat should lead to a decreased preference for a leadership role, as compared to a problem solver role, was not supported by the obtained results. Furthermore, men did not show higher preference, as compared to women, for a role as a leader over a role as a problem solver. Possible methodological improvements are discussed, along with suggestions for further research. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Löw, Vicky LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYP01 20152
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Gender, Ease of retrieval, Leadership, Agency
language
English
id
8565786
date added to LUP
2016-01-25 16:11:09
date last changed
2016-01-25 16:11:09
@misc{8565786,
  abstract     = {{The present study examined the effect of manipulated (threatened or affirmed) sense of agency on Swedish students’ preference for leadership, by ease of retrieval. Three hundred and twelve students (Mage = 23.04, SD = 2.70) participated in the experiment. The aim of the study was to investigate whether individuals’ leadership preferences was affected by perceived sense of agency. By contrasting a role as a leader and a role as a problem solver, participants rated their interest for each. In total N = 312 participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions (threatened agency, affirmed agency or no agency manipulation). The hypothesis that an agency threat should lead to a decreased preference for a leadership role, as compared to a problem solver role, was not supported by the obtained results. Furthermore, men did not show higher preference, as compared to women, for a role as a leader over a role as a problem solver. Possible methodological improvements are discussed, along with suggestions for further research.}},
  author       = {{Löw, Vicky}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Women's Aspiration for Leadership - An Experimental Study on Agency and Gender}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}