Relating leader gender, nonverbal leader behavior, transformational leadership and follower trust in leader to team effectiveness : a multi-method video-observational study

The division between men and women in leading positions is unequal in both private and public sectors, having often two times as many men than women in charge Whether this difference is justified by the gender differences in leadership effectiveness was researched in this paper. 45 leaders were studied on their leadership style, nonverbal leader behavior, follower trust, and team effectiveness. The data was obtained via video-taped meetings led by the leaders and by questionnaires filled in by followers and leaders after the meetings. The nonverbal behavior of the leaders is meticulously coded for thirty minutes per meeting by two raters with the use of a pre-defined codebook. To test the hypotheses, independent t-tests and regression analyses were conducted. The results indicated that female and male leaders exhibited equal levels of transformational leadership, while female leaders showed different nonverbal behavior, such as displaying more smiles and less raised eyebrows, compared to male leaders during regular staff meetings. Moreover, transformational leadership was found to be a predictor of follower trust, but follower trust was not a predictor of team effectiveness. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.