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This research aims to examine the indirect relationship between feminine traits and employee contextual performance through transformational leadership. Additionally, it explored the role of leaders’ sex in moderating the relationship between feminine traits and transformational leadership through a moderated mediation model that subsequently influences employee contextual performance.

This study tested and validated the moderated mediation model using a two-wave survey with 295 samples. Bootstrapping was adopted for model testing.

The results indicated that leaders’ sex moderated the relationship between feminine traits and employee contextual performance through transformational leadership, such that the indirect effect was stronger for female leaders than for male leaders.

Female leaders can improve employee contextual performance by demonstrating transformational leadership with feminine traits. Organizations must implement measures (i.e. training) to promote the acceptance and application of leader gender and gender-role trait diversity, reduce the prevalence of gender stereotypes and help leaders benefit from learning and implementing the effective combination of leadership and feminine traits.

The study demonstrated the joint effects of leaders’ sex (difference) and gender-role traits on employee contextual performance through transformational leadership. These results provide female leaders with feminine traits to gain a leadership advantage and an in-depth understanding of role congruity theory from the perspective of leadership effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to further understanding concerning sex differences in leadership styles and to examine the mediating role of gender identity traits in these differences.

The paper draws on previous research that has established that many aspects of leadership style positively related to leaders' effectiveness are associated with the female gender role. Consistent with this assumption, the authors examined a sample of 157 Spanish managers whether significant sex differences favouring women emerge in relevant leadership dimensions (i.e. individualized consideration, contingent reward and emotional intelligence) and whether gender identity traits may help to explain such differences.

Results show that male leaders' lower scores in individualized consideration, positive contingent reward and emotional intelligence are partly explained by their lower identification with expressive traits. Furthermore, results indicate that integration of counter‐stereotypical traits into the self positively relates to effectiveness in the sense of use of a wider range of leadership styles for both women and men.

Future research could explore in more detail how sex differences in leadership styles are associated with gendered traits of identity in different countries, as well as whether a blend of masculine and feminine traits is predictive for a more multifaceted leadership style.

The findings are discussed in terms of how a gender perspective may help to better understand leadership effectiveness in contemporary organizations, especially in the case of male leaders.

Research on economic entrepreneurship identifies a gender gap that is favorable to men. In the social entrepreneurship arena, the existing evidence is slightly fuzzy, as this gender gap is less preeminent. This paper aims to identify how gender differences in social entrepreneurial ventures creation are explained by different personality traits, by analyzing the extent to which female and male social entrepreneurs exhibit the same personality traits and whether potential differences are able to explain the differences in predisposition for the creation of new social entrepreneurial ventures.

A review of the literature on gender differences and personality traits in social entrepreneurship details the main theoretical developments and builds the hypotheses. Based on the Big Five model, the investigation uses a hypothesis testing quantitative approach. Primary data were collected through a questionnaire that was e-mailed and applied to the social entrepreneurs engaged in the creation of social ventures in Portugal.

The data gathered suggest that both female and male social entrepreneurs have personalities characterized by high levels of openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and emotional stability. Based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) between the two groups and logistic regression, the investigation reveals that women and men who launch a new social venture only differ in one personality dimension – agreeableness – wherein women scored more highly. No significant differences are found in the other personality traits.

The research assumes that most aspects of human personality structure are represented in the Big Five model.

The knowledge about whether gender differences are explained by different personality traits is critical to public entities that might design appropriate public policies to stimulate social entrepreneurship. Also, social entrepreneurs’ capacity building programs should be delineated in accordance with a deeper understanding about gender and personality traits differences.

The knowledge of the factors that affects the creation of new social ventures has an important potential contribution on social value creation and the promotion of gender equality.

This paper links two important topics – gender and entrepreneurs’ personality traits – scarcely explored in the social entrepreneurship literature. Thus, the paper adds new empirical evidence to support (or not) the belief that personality and gender matter in the decision to launch a new social venture.

The purpose of this study is to examine gender differences in personality predictors of a specific form of workplace aggression: counterproductive work behaviors directed at individuals (CWB‐I).

Students (n=212) who were part‐time employees working at least 15 hours per week completed a measure of the five‐factor model (FFM) personality traits and two circumplex personality traits (Calmnesss and Pleasantness), as well as a measure of CWB‐I. Hierarchical regressions and tests of mean differences were used to examine hypotheses pertaining to gender differences in personality predictors of interpersonal aggression.

Results generally supported the hypotheses as shown by the significant interactions between gender and personality traits in predicting CWB‐I. Agreeableness and Pleasantness significantly (negatively) predicted CWB‐I among males, but not females. Emotional Stability significantly (negatively) predicted CWB‐I among females, but not males.

The use of self‐report surveys may impact the results of this study. However, as this is the first study to explore the complex interactions between gender and personality in predicting workplace aggression, it is hoped that future research tests these relationships with alternate samples and methodologies.

The results show that personality traits predict interpersonal workplace aggression differentially for males and females. Results also show that circumplex intersection traits are a useful supplement to the FFM traits in explaining interpersonal aggression in the workplace.

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to show that personality traits differentially predict interpersonal aggression for males and females; and to demonstrate the incremental validity of circumplex traits over FFM traits in predicting interpersonal aggression.

The purpose of this paper is to find whether non-cognitive traits contribute to the gender gap in supervisory status and promotion.

The authors use a large employer-employee matched data set collected from six former socialist countries to assess the link between non-cognitive traits and upward mobility.

Controlling for workplace heterogeneity, the authors find that gender differences in locus of control, the preference for challenge vs affiliation, and adherence to work ethic together can explain about 7-18 percent of the gender gap in supervisory status and promotion.

Overall, non-cognitive traits provide an important, though modest, explanation for the gender gap in upward mobility.

Entrepreneurial intention of students is frequently used in entrepreneurship research as an indicator of creativity, innovativeness and entrepreneurial mindset. The entrepreneurship courses offered by engineering disciplines do not always have the expected outcomes, while differences are observed on students' entrepreneurial intention. These differences sometimes stem from the stereotypical beliefs about entrepreneurship, in favor of masculinity. Although these anachronistic perceptions gradually fade in the society, personality traits attributed to “traditional” gender schemas still have an impact on students' career choices, especially in academic fields considered “masculine,” such as information technology. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of gender-typed personality (GTP) on students' entrepreneurial intentions (EI) and identify differences between genders.

The impact of GTP traits on students' entrepreneurial intention is examined using gender schema theory and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) based on a sample of 321 university students of information technology. Structural equation models are used for the investigation of causal effects and group differences.

The results indicate significant interaction of GTP traits on the EI for both male and female students. However, no significant differences were found in the perception of gender schemas between males and females, which clearly suggests that the attribution of these traits to a specific gender nowadays is false.

The results offer convincing explanation of the differences observed in EI between the two genders and have both theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurship education.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in risk aversion and determine the effect of personality traits on risk aversion from an African country context.

The study combined both descriptive and analytical designs, and employed t-test, Pearson’s χ² and binary logistic regression as the main analytical techniques. Data for the analysis were obtained from the World Bank’s Skills toward Employment and Productivity survey on Ghana.

Results of the study revealed systematic differences in personality and gender and their associations with risk aversion. Specifically, women were found to be more risk averse than men. Differences in personality also showed that females reported higher levels of personality in all but one of the Big Five personality traits – extraversion. In addition to gender, age and education, the personality traits of conscientiousness and stability were the main predictors of the likelihood of being risk averse. Although personality differences existed between male and female, the interaction terms between gender and personality factors were not statistically significant.

The paper departs from the extant literature on developed countries and western cultures to add to the understanding on how individual differences account for variation in revealed risk preferences.

Given the general consensus that creativity is a crucial driving force for innovation and progress, understanding how to promote it would benefit individuals, companies, society and academia. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the independent and contingent impact of individuals’ personality traits, team-member exchange (TMX) and gender on stimulating creativity.

The study uses a survey-sample of 639 university students (51.96% women) between the ages of 17 and 50. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) demonstrated reliability and validity of its measures. To test hypotheses, using structural equation modeling, hierarchical regression analyses were performed.

Results show that four of the five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience) and TMX positively influence creativity. There are no significant differences between men’s and women’s creativity. High TMX reinforces the influence of extraversion on creativity, while low TMX harms this relationship. High extravert women are more creative than high extravert men, while low extravert men are more creative than low extravert women. Low emotionally stable women are more creative than low emotionally stable men, while high emotionally stable men are more creative than high emotionally stable women. There are differences in how women and men take advantage of their openness to experience when TMX is considered. That is, while women take advantage of openness to experience for any value of TMX, men only increase their creativity as openness to experience increases for low values of TMX.

Like all studies, ours has some limitations that provide opportunities for future research. First, care should be taken when generalizing these findings to other contexts. We use data from Spanish individuals, specifically university students. While they are suitable for testing our hypotheses, future studies should establish whether the general tendencies that we observe hold true for other kinds of people from Spain and other countries. Even more, this paper’s perspective might be biased by the authors’ country of origin (south Europe) in terms of gender. According to Hofstede (2001) south European and South American countries are more masculine than other cultures (Mensa and Grow, 2022). Therefore, analyzing these questions in different cultures (countries and settings) would facilitate the generalization of the results. Second, the data we use is mainly cross-sectional so strict causality cannot be inferred. The theory we use assumes specific causal directions, but alternative causal relationships cannot be ruled out. Finally, ideally, we should have controlled for additional variables that might influence the relationships in our model.

This paper has practical implications, as it demonstrates that neither gender is more creative than the other. It goes a step further, explaining how men and women can leverage their personality traits to be more creative. Moreover, since TMX could reinforce the impact of personality traits on creativity, this paper could help managers better organize teams and companies that want to be more innovative by taking into account the personality traits of their employees and how to get the best out of women and men.

Traditionally, women have considered creativity to be a man’s thing. The results of this work favor society, demonstrating that women are just as creative as men and that through personality traits and TMX, both men and women can be more creative. These results help to reduce the gender gap and may favor women’s place in today’s society.

This work offers academic and practical implications. The main contributions to the creativity and gender literatures are the following: (1) Women are as creative as men. (2) High extravert and low emotionally stable women are more creative than men. (3) High open to experience women with high TMX are more creative than men at any level of TMX. For practitioners, the understanding of what personality traits have higher impact on creativity depending on the levels of TMX for women and men could help companies and politicians in hiring the most suitable people, especially for those positions where creativity is needed. This would increase the quality of their human capital, allowing them to get the most out of their human resources, from the very beginning of the employment relationship.

Two studies are designed to address the research questions including an experimental study and a field study. The experimental study manipulated Servant Leadership (SL vs. non-SL), leaders' Machiavellianism (H-Mach vs L-Mach), and leaders' gender (male vs. female), and measured leadership effectiveness. The second study is a survey study that collected data from employees regarding their interaction with supervisors and their perceptions of supervisors' leadership behaviors.

Leadership behaviors can correspond to or deviate from leaders' personality traits. This study aims to study the interplay of two seemingly opposite constructs in leadership – a power-pursuing and manipulation-oriented trait (i.e. Machiavellianism) and an other-oriented leadership style (i.e. servant leadership behaviors) by examining whether the effect of servant leadership behaviors on perceived leadership effectiveness varies across high and low levels of Machiavellian traits. Furthermore, built upon gender role congruency theory, the researchers pay particular attention to the (leader) gender's role in the paradox of Machiavellian traits and servant leadership behaviors.

Results from the two studies show that the relationship between servant leadership behaviors and followers' ratings of leaders' effectiveness varies with leaders' Machiavellian traits. More engagement in servant leadership behaviors serves as a remedy for high-Mach leaders to achieve leadership effectiveness, and this remedy effect tends to be greater for women leaders.

To the authors' best knowledge, this is one of the first attempts that examine the interplay of servant leadership behaviors and Machiavellianism on perceived leader effectiveness. The authors also contribute to the gender leadership literature by providing evidence for the contingencies of leaders' genders when employees evaluate leadership effectiveness with consideration for the dual demands for agency and communion from women leaders.

The purpose of this study is to explore how gender and gender role identity separately and jointly affect managerial aspirations.

The study was cross-sectional in nature. Survey data were collected from Chinese Government sectors. Two-way analysis of variance was used to test the research hypotheses.

The results showed that gender role identity and combination of gender and gender role identity predict management aspirations while gender alone does not affect management aspirations. Androgynous individuals self-reported higher scores of managerial aspirations. Female managers who perceive themselves as androgynous and masculine tend to possess higher management aspirations. However, when they perceive themselves to exhibit feminine traits, they are more likely to hold lower management aspirations. Moreover, male managers with androgynous and feminine traits are inclined to have higher management aspirations.

Due to cross-sectional survey data, research results may be biased by common method variance. In addition, because of a convenient sample, the research results may lack generalizability. Moreover, with participants from different organizations, the percentage of men and women in the organization and participants’ role conflicts between work and family life would impact the gender role identity of individuals. Future research should control for the gender composition of the workplace and participants’ role conflicts between work and family life.

The findings can help narrow the gender gap of managerial aspirations through focusing on gender role identity in selecting managers and designing the leadership training program, ultimately resulting in diminishing disparity in top leadership positions between men and women.

This study examines how gender and gender role identity separately and jointly affects managerial aspirations in the Chinese context.