Is there such a thing as feminine leadership? Being a leader and not a man in the hospitality industry
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 17 July 2019
Issue publication date: 4 September 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine and discuss whether women executives in the hospitality industry in Hong Kong adopt a feminine, masculine or gender-neutral approach to leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
This study focuses on women with positional power in senior-level leadership roles within the hospitality and tourism industry in Hong Kong. A qualitative approach was taken to capture the multiple dimensions of these female executive’s leadership orientations. The participants included 24 women executives.
Findings
Participants’ representations show that women have a multitude of leadership styles that operate on three continua. Not all women executives display leadership orientations that adhere to their indigenous culture values. Individual differences or differences related to the organizational culture are still relevant.
Research limitations/implications
A low number of women in leadership positions in Hong Kong limited the selection process of participants. There might be a selection bias based on that the participants volunteered to participate in the research study and some declined. Findings are based on participants’ memory to reflect on their leadership styles.
Originality/value
Because of the traditional and conventional definitions of leadership, women leaders might feel that they should behave in a masculine way to be taken seriously as a leader. There is a need to understand whether women executives today manage to defeat these stereotypes and comfortably display a feminine approach to leadership. A culture that values and leverages feminine approaches in addition to masculine approaches is likely to have higher engagement and retention of women.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The work described in this paper was supported by a grant funded by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project Number: PolyU 155026/15B).
Citation
Denizci Guillet, B., Pavesi, A., Hsu, C.H.C. and Weber, K. (2019), "Is there such a thing as feminine leadership? Being a leader and not a man in the hospitality industry", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 2970-2993. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-06-2018-0486
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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