An intersectional lens on young leaders:Bias toward young women and young men in leadership positions

Research has recognized age biases against young leaders, yet understanding of how gender, the most frequently studied demographic leader characteristic, influences this bias remains limited. In this study, we examine the gender-specific age bias toward young female and young male leaders through an intersectional lens. By integrating intersectionality theory with insights on status beliefs associated with age and gender, we test whether young female and male leaders face an interactive rather than an additive form of bias. We conducted two preregistered experimental studies ( N1 = 918 and N2 = 985), where participants evaluated leaders based on age, gender, or a combination of both. Our analysis reveals a negative age bias in leader status ascriptions toward young leaders compared to middle-aged and older leaders. This bias persists when gender information is added, as demonstrated in both intersectional categories of young female and young male leaders. This bias pattern does not extend to middle-aged or older female and male leaders, thereby supporting the age bias against young leaders specifically. Interestingly, we also examined whether social dominance orientation strengthens the bias against young (male) leaders, but our results (reported in the SOM) are not as hypothesized. In sum, our results emphasize the importance of young age as a crucial demographic characteristic in leadership perceptions that can even overshadow the role of gender

The challenge of being a young manager: The effects of contingent reward and participative leadership on team-level turnover depend on leader age

Effective leadership requires a leader claiming as well as team members granting the leadership position. Contingent reward and participative leadership may both facilitate this mutual process. However, these behaviors differ in the degree to which they require a leader to have status and be prototypical. Their effectiveness might thus depend on the status-related characteristics of the leader. In this respect, we propose that younger leaders, by deviating from the leader prototype in terms of age, lack a natural status cue, which will determine the effectiveness of these two leadership behaviors in shaping turnover. Two pilot studies (N = 113 and 121 individuals) confirm that younger leaders are perceived as less prototypical and to have lower status than older leaders. Examining 83 work teams, we show that leader age differently moderates the effects of contingent reward and participative leadership on time-lagged team turnover. For younger (compared with older) leaders, contingent reward was effective as illustrated by decreased voluntary turnover and increased involuntary turnover, whereas participative leadership, which was associated with increased voluntary turnover and decreased involuntary turnover, was ineffective. These findings point to the importance of incorporating natural status cues of leaders for understanding the effectiveness of different leadership behaviors

The interplay of diversity training and diversity beliefs on team creativity in nationality diverse teams

Attaining value from nationality diversity requires active diversity management, which organizations often employ in the form of diversity training programs. Interestingly, however, the previously reported effects of diversity training are often weak and, sometimes, even negative. This situation calls for research on the conditions under which diversity training helps or harms teams. We propose that diversity training can increase team creativity, but only for teams with less positive pretraining diversity beliefs (i.e., teams with a greater need for such training) and that are sufficiently diverse in nationality. Comparing the creativity of teams that attended nationality diversity training versus control training, we found that for teams with less positive diversity beliefs, diversity training increased creative performance when the team’s nationality diversity was high, but undermined creativity when the team’s nationality diversity was low. Diversity training had less impact on teams with more positive diversity beliefs, and training effects were not contingent upon these teams’ diversity. Speaking to the underlying process, we showed that these interactive effects were driven by the experienced team efficacy of the team members. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for nationality diversity management

Killer Apps: Developing Novel Applications That Enhance Team Coordination, Communication, and Effectiveness

As part of the Lorentz workshop, “Interdisciplinary Insights into Group and Team Dynamics,” held in Leiden, Netherlands, this article describes how Geeks and Groupies (computer and social scientists) may benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration toward the development of killer apps in team contexts that are meaningful and challenging for both. First, we discuss interaction processes during team meetings as a research topic for both Groupies and Geeks. Second, we highlight teamwork in health care settings as an interdisciplinary research challenge. Third, we discuss how an automated solution for optimal team design could benefit team effectiveness and feed into team-based interventions. Fourth, we discuss team collaboration in massive open online courses as a challenge for both Geeks and Groupies. We argue for the necessary integration of social and computational research insights and approaches. In the hope of inspiring future interdisciplinary collaborations, we develop criteria for evaluating killer apps—including the four proposed here—and discuss future research challenges and opportunities that potentially derive from these developments

An intersectional lens on young leaders: bias toward young women and young men in leadership positions

Research has recognized age biases against young leaders, yet understanding of how gender, the most frequently studied demographic leader characteristic, influences this bias remains limited. In this study, we examine the gender-specific age bias toward young female and young male leaders through an intersectional lens. By integrating intersectionality theory with insights on status beliefs associated with age and gender, we test whether young female and male leaders face an interactive rather than an additive form of bias. We conducted two preregistered experimental studies (N1 = 918 and N2 = 985), where participants evaluated leaders based on age, gender, or a combination of both. Our analysis reveals a negative age bias in leader status ascriptions toward young leaders compared to middle-aged and older leaders. This bias persists when gender information is added, as demonstrated in both intersectional categories of young female and young male leaders. This bias pattern does not extend to middle-aged or older female and male leaders, thereby supporting the age bias against young leaders specifically. Interestingly, we also examined whether social dominance orientation strengthens the bias against young (male) leaders, but our results (reported in the SOM) are not as hypothesized. In sum, our results emphasize the importance of young age as a crucial demographic characteristic in leadership perceptions that can even overshadow the role of gender

Behavioral Approach to Leadership

After several decades of leadership research that attempted to identify the specific and unique traits characteristic of those in supervisory positions, academic research shifted to pursue the patterns of behavior exhibited by those who were influential in and around positions of formal leadership. The evolution of leadership research, beyond traits, was due in part to the fact that trait approaches to leadership were shown to have limited explanatory utility. In addition, a behavioral approach to leadership afforded practitioners the opportunity to develop training and development programs that could enhance leadership skills of all managers, not just those who were born with a particular set of favorable traits. In the last half century, the leadership literature—in both the academic and popular press—has been filled with varied models, theories, and anecdotes that characterize the behavior of effective leaders