Discussion
First and foremost our goal in the present study was to update
and extend our understanding of the relationship between gender
and leadership effectiveness. Toward this end, we quantitatively
review 49 years of research pertaining to the relationship
between gender and leadership effectiveness as well as to
a number of theoretically based moderators of this relationship.
In doing so, we update and extend Eagly et al.’s (1995) metaanalysis
of gender differences in leadership effectiveness.
Moreover, we expand role congruity theory (RCT) by reframing
it such that it applies regardless of gender (i.e., to both men and
women). Finally, we highlight the importance of rating source
in any examination of gender advantages in leadership effectiveness
(i.e., the importance of examining self-reported and
other-reported assessments of leadership effectiveness; Eagly &
Carli, 2003a, 2003b; Vecchio, 2002, 2003).