Gender, Authentic Leadership and Identity: Analysis of Women Leaders’ Autobiographies
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This is a repository copy of Gender, authentic leadership and identity: analysis of women leaders’ autobiographies. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/104219/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Kapasi, I orcid.org/0000-0001-7965-520X, Sang, KJC and Sitko, R (2016) Gender, authentic leadership and identity: analysis of women leaders’ autobiographies. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 31 (5/6). pp. 339-358. ISSN 1754-2413 https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-06-2015-0058 © 2016. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Gender in Management: An International Journal. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self- archiving policy. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. 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[email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Gender in Management: an International Journal Gender, authentic leadership and identity: analysis of women leaders’ autobiographies Journal:For Gender Peer in Management: Review an International Journal Manuscript ID GM-06-2015-0058.R3 Manuscript Type: Original Article Keywords: Autobiography, Gender, Leadership, Identity work, Authentic leadership Page 1 of 20 Gender in Management: an International Journal 1 2 3 Gender, authentic leadership and identity: analysis of women leaders’ 4 autobiographies. 5 6 7 8 9 Abstract 10 11 Purpose: Leadership theories have moved from viewing leadership as a personality trait, 12 towards models that recognise leadership as a social construction. Alongside this 13 14 theorisation, gender and leadership remains of considerable interest, particularly given the 15 under-representation of women in leadership positions. Methodological approaches to 16 understanding leadership have begun to embrace innovative methods, such as historical 17 analyses. The current study aims to understand how high profile women leaders construct a 18 gendered leadership identity, with particular reference to authentic leadership. 19 For Peer Review 20 21 Approach: Thematic analysis of autobiographies, a form of identity work, of four women 22 leaders from business and politics; Sheryl Sandberg, Karren Brady, Hillary Clinton and Julia 23 Gillard. 24 25 Findings: Analyses reveal that these women construct gender and leadership along familiar 26 27 normative lines; for example, the emphasis on personal and familial values. However, their 28 stories differ in that the normative extends to include close examination of the body and a 29 sense of responsibility to other women. Overall, media representations of these ‘authentic’ 30 leaders conform to social constructions of gender. Thus in the case of authentic leadership, 31 a theory presented as gender neutral, the authenticity of leadership has to some extent been 32 crafted by the media rather than the leader. 33 34 35 Value: The study reveals that despite attempts to ‘craft’ and control the image of the 36 authentic self for consumption by followers, gendered media representations of individuals 37 and leadership remain. Thus, alternative approaches to crafting an authentic leadership self 38 which extend beyond (mainstream) media is suggested. 39 40 41 Keywords: Autobiography, Gender, Leadership, Authentic Leadership, Identity work 42 43 44 45 Introduction 46 47 48 Media representations of women in leadership positions are gaining increasing interest 49 (Mavin et al., 2008). The analyses of media representations often focus on everyday 50 constructions of gendered leadership via television, newspapers, websites or photography 51 (e.g. Buysse and Embser-Herbert 2004; Mavin et al., 2008; Trimble 2007). This paper 52 focuses specifically on autobiographies. Similarly to gender, autobiographies are produced 53 54 in discourse and performance (Coslett et al 2010). Within the context of broader discussions 55 of leadership, however, gender is often presented as invisible, as if the body of the leader is 56 irrelevant to their leadership (Fletcher, 2004). The rise of authentic leadership (Gardner et 57 al., 2005) also suggests that the gender of a leader is no longer of importance as the criteria 58 for authenticity is to “act in accordance with one’s true self” (p. 344). Even so, leadership 59 60 Gender in Management: an International Journal Page 2 of 20 1 2 3 remains a stubbornly male phenomenon in general (Karelaia and Guillen, 2014), and in the 4 case of authentic leadership in particular (Gardiner, 2013). According to Coslett et al (2010), 5 autobiography is a form of written narrative created for an audience’s sentimental story 6 7 demands. Therefore, it is a form of narrative which may be a ‘controlled’ expression of 8 identity. Previously, autobiographies have been recognised as constituting media 9 representations of identity and identity construction (Yar, 2012), particularly for women 10 (Buller, 2014). However, the gendered constructions and representations of leadership 11 through the use of autobiography remains an area in need of further research, specifically, 12 how women construct and do authentic leadership. 13 14 15 This paper addresses this gap by analysing women leaders’ autobiographies, to understand 16 how gendered leadership is constructed and presented in these forms of media. The paper 17 contributes to two bodies of literature, first, understandings of the gendered social 18 construction of leadership, particularly authentic leadership. Second, a contribution is made 19 For Peer Review 20 to the literature on the use of autobiographies, as a form of identity work, to understand 21 contemporary leadership. We begin by presenting a brief review of authentic leadership 22 theory, specifically women and leadership, moving to a consideration of the potential for 23 leaders’ stories, as a form of identity work, to shed light on the social construction of 24 leadership. 25 26 27 Women and leadership 28 29 Examination of leadership theory and practice has consistently revealed that the 30 phenomenon is understood through a ‘male norm’ lens (e.g. Calas and Smircich, 1996; 31 Eagly and Carli, 2003; Patterson et al., 2012a). This is despite studies which seek to 32 question the status quo (e.g. Patterson et al., 2012b; Galloway et al., forthcoming). Thus, in 33 34 many cases, leadership is often presented as gender neutral or blind, as if the body of the 35 leader is irrelevant to their leadership (Fletcher, 2004; Patterson et al., 2012b). A particular 36 example of leadership style which is presented as gender neutral is authentic leadership (AL 37 hereafter) (Gardner et al., 2005). Although an agreed definition for AL is yet to be 38 established, Ladkin and Taylor (2010) cite three key features, they write: “authentic 39 leadership is the expression of the ‘true self’, that the leader must be relatively aware of the 40 41 nature of that self in order to express it authentically, and that the self is normatively inclined 42 towards moral virtue” (p.5). AL, therefore, proposes that an individual whose internal and 43 external selves are concurrent could be said to be expressing authenticity. Thus, from an AL 44 theoretical perspective, the gender of an individual should have little impact on their ability to 45 be authentic in their external expression of internal ‘true self’. This is in contrast to social 46 47 constructivist accounts which acknowledge the social construction of leadership and 48 leadership contexts (Grint, 2005). Therefore, several aspects of the presentation of AL, such 49 as the possibility of ‘extreme’ self-awareness and its gender-neutrality have been 50 questioned, with research focussing on gender and its intersection with authentic leadership 51 in particular (e.g. Ford and Harding, 2011; Gardiner, 2011; Sinclair, 2013). Furthermore, 52 Gardiner (2013) proposes that it is through interactions with others, that we ultimately define 53 54 ourselves, thus how can there be a ‘true self’. Therefore, the concept of authenticity is itself 55 in doubt, with the extent to which individuals have a true self/identity in question (Brown, 56 2015). 57 58 59 60 Page 3 of 20 Gender in Management: an International Journal 1 2 3 A key area which challenges the gender-neutrality of AL is the very fact that AL is enacted 4 through use of the body and subsequently interpreted, and ‘verified’ as authentic, by 5 followers (Ladkin and Taylor, 2010; Liu et al. 2015). Thus, the importance of the ‘vehicle’ for 6 7 AL ‘delivery’ is raised; it is not just the spoken word, but the physical body which is an 8 expression of authenticity (Sinclair, 2013). Therein lies the disconnect between the proposed 9 gender-neutrality of AL and the expression of leadership in a female body. Sinclair (2013) 10 writes of how authenticity is not simply an expression of coherence between inner ‘true-self’ 11 and its expression (i.e. spoken), but rather that “authenticity is allocated, or not, by followers 12 according to often unconsciously held cultural and societal norms about how the members of 13 14 certain social groups should look and behave” (p. 241). Eagly (2005) describes this aspect 15 as ‘relational authenticity’. In the case of women this returns us to the social and cultural 16 expectation that leadership and male are often reduced to synonyms (Patterson et al., 17 2013a). Consequently both female characteristics and the body are ‘other’ and deviate from 18 this norm. Males are associated with agentic behaviours (e.g. being aggressive, driven and 19 For Peer Review 20 ambitious) whereas, women are considered communal (e.g.