What is it about?
Leadership is often associated with masculinity and the desire for power. Yet previous research suggests that women and men do not consistently differ in how strongly they are motivated to influence others. We therefore asked a different question: Do female and male leaders use their power motive in different ways? We compared 80 female leaders with 80 male leaders who were matched by age, management level, industry, and, where possible, company. Participants completed measures of their implicit motives and action orientation, the ability to move from intention to action and recover from setbacks. Female leaders showed more integrative power enactment: They were more likely to bring together different perspectives and find solutions that support others’ autonomy. Male leaders showed more dominant power enactment. However, the two groups did not differ in the overall strength of their power motive or in their level of action orientation.
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Why is it important?
Women remain underrepresented in leadership, while stereotypes continue to link leadership and power with masculinity. Our findings challenge the assumption that women may lack the motivational qualities required to lead. Female and male leaders did not differ in how strongly they were motivated by power. What differed was how they enacted it. Integrative power enactment was associated with greater action orientation, a key capacity for making decisions, overcoming setbacks, and turning intentions into action. This suggests that organizations should look beyond dominant behavior when identifying leadership potential. Selection and development should focus more strongly on how constructively leaders use power and how well they integrate different perspectives. Because integrative power enactment can be developed, these findings offer a promising starting point for strengthening effective leadership in people of all genders.
Perspectives
Our findings shift the conversation from whether women want power to how leaders use power. The female leaders in our matched sample had a head start in integrative power enactment, a way of influencing others that combines different viewpoints, supports autonomy, and helps leaders remain action-oriented. The goal is not to replace one gender stereotype with another. Integrative power is not inherently female, nor is dominant power inherently male. The way people enact their motives is flexible and can be developed. Organizations should therefore question whether dominant behavior is still treated as a sign of leadership potential and invest in assessment and development practices that foster an integrative, self-regulated use of power in all leaders.
Kerstin Neumann
Universitat Trier
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Gender and power: Female leaders’ head start in integrative motive enactment boosts action orientation., Motivation Science, July 2026, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/mot0000434.
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