You are a Great Leader! The Role of Positive Feedback in Women’s and Men’s Willingness to Lead

The present study examined to what extent women’s and men’s willingness to lead is influenced by feedback. It was hypothesized that women would be more likely to take the lead when they receive positive feedback on their leadership skills, and that gender differences in willingness to lead would be smaller as a result of this feedback. In an experimental setting, participants were led to believe that they had to perform a task with other participants after they had received either positive feedback or no feedback on their leadership abilities. We found that women who received positive feedback were more willing to fulfill a leadership role than women who did not receive feedback. Furthermore, women were less willing to lead than men, and they were also less willing to engage in leadership behaviors than men, but only the gender difference in willingness to lead disappeared in the positive feedback condition.