GENDER AND LEADERSHIP-STYLE AMONG SCHOOL PRINCIPALS - A METAANALYSIS

This article uses meta-analytic methods to review 50 studies that compared the leadership styles of principals of public schools and finds some evidence for differences between the sexes. In general, female principals scored somewhat higher than male principals on measures of task-oriented style, but there was less evidence for a sex difference on measures of interpersonally oriented style. A third aspect of leadership style, the tendency to lead democratically or autocratically, produced the largest sex difference, with female principals adopting a more democratic or participative style and a less autocratic or directive style than male principals. The implications of the findings for school administration and their consistency with research conducted in other organizational settings are discussed.