| This study examines the role that a leader's physical appearance, specifically gender, plays in the follower's perception of a selected leader's Initiating Structure and Consideration behaviors, as measured by version XII of the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ-XII) (Stogdill, 1963), based on the demographics of the participants / followers. An ancillary analysis was conducted in order to further explore the effects of a leader's physical appearrance on the partipants' / followers' selection of a leader as well as leader selection based on the demographics (gender and race) of the participant / follower.;Individuals of diverse backgrounds were surveyed to obtain the data for this study. The total sample size for this study was N = 525. Participants randomly received one of four potential studies, which were referred to as Study A: Director of Event Services, Study B: Director of Nursing, Study C: Director of Guidance Counseling, and Study D: Director of Information Technology. Each study presented a male and female leader with the exact same job title and resume. In Studies A and B, attractiveness and unattractiveness were held constant, respectively. In Studies C and D, attractiveness varied within the male and female pairings.;As attractiveness and unattractiveness were held constant in Studies A and B, the studies were analyzed to determine if leader gender affected participants' / followers' perceptions of leader behavior based on the demographics of the participants / followers. The results of Studies A and B indicated that participants who selected the female leader rated her as more Considerate than participants who selected the male leader. In regards to Intiating Structure, results for Study A revealed that Hispanics rated their selected leader as significantly more focused on Initiatng Structure behaviors than Other Races, while the participants' / followers' Role in Current Occupation for both Study A and Study B affected participants' / followers' perceptions of their selected leaders' Initiating Structure behavior.;Studies A, B, C, and D were analyzed for leader selection and leader selection based on the demographics of the participants / followers. Results revealed that for Studies A, B, C, and D, the female leader was selected significantly more often than the male leader regardless of attractiveness, job title, or resume. Results of a Chi-Square analysis revealed a relationship between participants' / followers' gender and leader selection for Study D: Director of Information Technology, only; females were four times as likely to select the female leader whereas males were one and a half times as likely to select the female leader.;Overall, female leaders were selected more often than male leaders regardless of attractiveness. This study contributes to the current literature on gender and leadership and sheds light on the possibility of the changing face of leadership. |
