Taking Threat to the Next Level: A Multilevel Perspective of Stereotype Threat and Women’s Leadership Outcomes

Ph.D. Candidate Stacy Boyer of the Management Department will be defending her Dissertation Proposal titled, “Taking Threat to the Next Level: A Multilevel Perspective of Stereotype Threat and Women’s Leadership Outcomes” on 05/11/2021.

The time and location of her proposal defense is 12:00-1:30pm on Zoom.

Many thanks to Stacy’s dissertation committee: • Committee Chair – Wendy van Ginkel – Associate Professor – Drexel University • Committee Member: Daniel Van Knippenberg - Professor – Drexel University • Committee Member: Lauren D’Innocenzo - Associate Professor - Drexel University • Committee Member: Dali Ma - Associate Professor – Drexel University • Committee Member: Jasmien Khattab - Assistant Professor – Erasmus University

Abstract Women face numerous obstacles demonstrating their capabilities in traditionally male-dominated roles such as leadership. One obstacle is coping with stereotype threat, which occurs when a negative ingroup stereotype becomes self-relevant in a domain important to one’s self-definition (Steele, 1997). Contending with threat is an effortful process that can have debilitating effects on cognition and performance. Women in the early stages of their careers are particularly susceptible to these effects and may leave the leadership domain if they are unable to overcome them. However, there is some indication that stereotype threat can also produce a performance-enhancing effect following explicit cues. I integrate stereotype threat theory (Steele & Aronson, 1995) with reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) to develop a multilevel framework for understanding the ways by which stereotype threat impacts women’s leadership and motivation. Specifically, I examine how women’s responses to implicit and explicit stereotype threats differentially affect their directive leadership behavior, and how an indicator of their effectiveness (team performance) impacts their motivation to lead. In addition, I propose that team building alleviates the negative effects of threat on women’s leadership by 1) altering threat appraisals and 2) facilitating participative leadership behavior and test these moderating effects on directive leadership and team outcomes. This dissertation advances theory on stereotype threat and reactance by explicating the ways by which implicit and explicit threats arouse vulnerability and reactance responses and joining team- and individual-level perspectives to better understand women’s leadership challenges.