Leadership, ownership, and gender: An investigation of leadership among business owners and business executive

This study investigated the differences in leadership between women business owners and women business executives. The focus of the research was to determine if women business owners report significantly different forms or degrees of leadership than do women business executives. This study also compared women business owners and men business owners; men business owners and men business executives; and women business executives and men business executives. This study was quantitative in design and used The Leadership Profile (TLP) (Sashkin, 1994) to measure leadership.;The data used for the research was previously collected by Ernst (1997). The sample was comprised of senior level members of the American Management Association, both executives and owners. The 8,000 private sector members were randomly selected and received a mail survey. Two survey mail-outs resulted in a 19% return rate.;The leadership scores of women business owners were significantly higher than those of women business executives in the areas of overall leadership, transformational leadership behaviors, and transformational leadership characteristics. No significant overall differences were found when comparing women business owners; men business owners and men business owners and men business executives; or women business executives and men business executives. The results of this study demonstrate that the variable of ownership is significantly associated with women's leadership in the sample group.