Gender, FRIENDSHIP Homophily, and Leadership IN ORGANIZATIONS

My dissertation examines the effects of friendship gender homophily (i.e., befriending others of the same gender) on the leadership reputations of women. I found that men with gender-homophilous friendship networks were more likely to be seen as leaders than women with gender-homophilous networks, and this is the case even after accounting for the effects of tenure, rank, job performance, and network centrality. In a follow-up vignette experiment, I identify the attributional mechanisms that explain this relationship. My dissertation’s contributes to theory and practice by showing how gender homophily in the workplace can harm women’s reputations for leadership; and by sorting through alternative network mechanisms that underlie this finding.

In the third study of my dissertation, I examine the difference between actual and perceived preferences for same-gender friends (i.e., gender homophily). In this study, I examine a key assumption of the first study that people accurately perceive gender homophily in others’ networks, proposing that perceptions may differ from reality. Previous research on gender and social networks has largely focused on structure and centrality. By contrast, we know little about the effects of network composition on women in the workplace. To address this challenge, I gather data on perceived friendship networks, which reflect how third parties view the networks of others within a firm. I find that people overestimate women’s gender homophily but underestimate men’s gender homophily.

My dissertation contributes to theory on gender differences in leadership by sorting through alternative network mechanisms that could explain why gender homophily in workplace friendship networks can differentially impact the leadership reputations of men and women in the workplace.

The first two studies from my three-study dissertation are part of my paper, which has undergone a former revise and resubmit process at the Academy of Management Journal and is currently in preparation for submission to Organization Science. 

Status: I have successfully defended my proposal, completed the first two studies, am finalizing data analysis for the third study, and plan my final defense for May 2024.