Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6817874 | Psychoneuroendocrinology | 2016 | 23 Pages |
Abstract
This article examines the role of basal testosterone as a potential biological marker of leadership and hierarchy in the workplace. First, we report the result of a study with a sample of male employees from different corporate organizations in the Netherlands (n = 125). Results showed that employees with higher basal testosterone levels reported a more authoritarian leadership style, but this relationship was absent among those who currently held a real management position (i.e., they had at least one subordinate). Furthermore, basal testosterone levels were not different between managers and non-managers, and testosterone was not associated with various indicators of status and hierarchy such as number of subordinates, income, and position in the organizational hierarchy. In our meta-analysis (second study), we showed that basal testosterone levels were not associated with leadership in men nor in women (9 studies, n = 1103). Taken together, our findings show that basal testosterone is not associated with having a leadership position in the corporate world or related to leadership styles in leaders. We suggest that basal testosterone could play a role in acquiring leadership positions through dominant and authoritarian behavior.
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Authors
Leander van der Meij, Jaap Schaveling, Mark van Vugt,