A matter of mindset? A multi-study exploration of agency-communion tensions and emerging mindsets among female (and male) leaders

Adopting a paradox (i.e., both-and) mindset, in contrast to a dilemma (i.e., either-or) mindset, is often presented as the approach to handling conflicting expectations. Despite societal progress, many female leaders remain confronted with such conflicting expectations toward their gender and leader role. They are expected to fulfill their (female) gender role by displaying communal behaviors while simultaneously adhering to their leader role, often associated with stereotypically male agency, potentially resulting in agency-communion tensions. This multi-study paper consists of an experimental study ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Study</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> = 454 women), and a two-wave survey in an organizational setting ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Study</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> = 167 female leaders, 154 male leaders). We explore determinants (i.e., organizational learning orientation) and postulated benefits (i.e., resilience, identity coexistence, leadership effectiveness) of female leaders’ paradox mindsets toward agency-communion tensions by empirically examining core propositions of a hitherto solely theoretical model by Zheng et al. (2018) . Results indicate that organizational learning orientation facilitates paradox mindset adoption but does not moderate the relationship between agency-communion tensions and paradox mindset adoption. Our studies show mixed findings regarding the postulated benefits of a paradox mindset. This points to necessary refinements of Zheng et al.'s (2018) study model and paradox theory in general.