Abstract

This study explored how perceptions of leadership effectiveness by heterosexual and gay evaluators are affected by leaders’ sexual orientation and adherence to gender typicality. Participants were 170 men who were asked to assess the leadership effectiveness of a gay or heterosexual male leader who was either described as stereotypically masculine or feminine. Results showed a significant interaction between evaluators’ sexual orientation and gender typicality of leaders, indicating that heterosexual men, compared to gay men, perceived the feminine leader as less effective than the masculine leader, regardless of his sexual orientation. Limitations, implications and future directions are discussed.