Such findings highlight the shifting stereotypes surrounding
gender and leadership (e.g., Koenig et al., 2011), which may be
increasing perceptions of men’s incongruity (and ineffectiveness)
in leadership positions. To the extent that organizations shift
toward a more feminine and transformational outlook, women
should experience reduced prejudice, while men may be seen as
more incongruent with leadership roles. Yet, men on average
continue to earn more and advance into higher managerial levels
than women (Blau & Kahn, 2007; Catalyst, 2012a). Researchers
argue that performance may matter less for female leader’s pay
than male leader’s pay. Indeed, Kulich, Ryan, and Haslam (2007)
found that company performance more strongly related positively
to bonus pay for male CEOs than female CEOs, whereas perceptions
of the leader’s charisma more strongly impacted bonus pay
for women than men. Thus, future research needs to examine the
other factors that may help to explain why women are seen as
equally (or more) effective leaders than men, yet they are not being
rewarded in the same ways. Additionally, future meta-analytic
research could gather and examine studies that reflect leader
ratings used for employment decisions (pay raises, promotions,
etc.) versus those used for research purposes only in order understand
whether a greater bias emerges when ratings are being used
for employment decisions.