GLOBAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES VOL 7, NO.

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INFLUENCE OF GENDER AND LEADERSHIP STYLE ON

CAREER COMMITMENT AND JOB PERFORMANCE OF
SUBORDINATES
O. A. AFOLABI, O. J. OBUDE, A. A. OKEDIJI AND L. N.EZEH
(Received 11 March 2007; Accepted 16 March 2009)

ABSTRACT
This study investigated the influence of gender of supervisors and leadership style on career
commitment and job performance of subordinates. The participants used in this study are 140
employees working in two breweries in Edo State. Sixty –seven (67) of the respondents were directly
working under female supervisors while seventy - three (73) were working under male supervisors. The
instrument used was a questionnaire with already validated items. The independent variables are
gender and leadership styles, while the dependent variables are career commitment and job
performance. A 2-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), was used to analyse the data collected. All the
hypotheses were supported in the predicted direction, as shown, males who work under democratic
female leaders had higher mean score on job performance than females working under autocratic
female leaders (28.37 vs 18.24). Males who work under autocratic female leaders had a higher mean
score on career commitment than females working under democratic female leaders (41.34 vs 34.12).
In the light of these findings, the researchers recommended that management in various organizations
should provide suitable conditions for the growth and development of the organization. Also,
organizational members should learn to put off gender biases and concentrate on effectiveness and
productivity.
KEY WORDS: Gender, Leadership style, Career commitment, Job performance, Subordinates

INTRODUCTION Whether one is a male or female would not have

The view that the immediate socio- been an important socio-psychological issue,
economic environment is critical in career except that, for some decades now the presence
commitment and job performance has been a of women alongside their male counterparts in
potent force in the development of ideas on job the industrial society has raised series of
performance and career commitment. Human debates as to the way women and men lead,
relationships at work particularly friendly superior their differences and their effectiveness. The
and congenial work-mate were considered by the term gender has been variously used to refer to
human relation school to be critical in career a collection of the characteristics that are
commitment and job performance. In this study, culturally associated with maleness and
we conceptualized Career Commitment to mean femaleness. Although, in our daily
the extent to which an employee is involved and communication with people, and even in law, the
devoted to his job. While, Job Performance is term “gender” and “sex” are used
used here to refer to the extent to which an interchangeably but they have different
employee is productive and achieves meanings. Sex is used to refer to a person’s
organizational goals. biological or anatomical identity as male or
O. A. Afolabi, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ambrose Alli University,
Ekpoma, Edo State.
O. J. Obude, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ambrose Alli University,
Ekpoma, Edo State.
A. A. Okediji, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa
Ibom State.
l. N.ezeh, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka,
Anambra State, Nigeria.
2 O. A. AFOLABI, O. J. OBUDE, A. A. OKEDIJI AND L. N.EZEH
female. Naturally, ones gender identity matches Democratic employee-oriented style of
with the anatomical sex. leadership is one that establishes a good
Leaders are agents of change, persons personal relationship with subordinates. The
whose acts affect other peoples more than other leader using this style of leadership takes an
peoples’ acts affect them. Bernard, (1990) interest in the subordinates and likes to ensure
asserted that leadership occurs when one group that they achieve their goal. This approach
member modifies the motivation or competences therefore involves consultation and balancing the
of others in the group. Leadership is defined as needs of the organization against the needs of
“an attempt to use non coercive types of the individual. On the other hand, an autocratic
influence to motivate individuals to accomplish task-oriented leader regards his group as
some goals. That is, when one individual instrumental in achieving objects set by the
attempt to affect the behavior of others in a organization and regards his function as
group without using the coercive form of power. ensuring that the group is organized in such a
Leaders are agents of change, persons whose way as to achieve this aim.
acts affect other peoples more than other Fleighman and Harris (1962) noted that
people’s acts affect them. Bernard, (1990) has the autocratic task-oriented leader’s behavior is
observed that leadership occurs when one group one in which the leader organizes and defines
member modifies the motivation or competences the group activities. Thus he/she defines the role
of others in the group. The effective leader may that each member is expected to assume, assign
have to deal with individual, group and task, plans ahead, establishes ways of getting
organizational goals. Leader effectiveness is things done and pushes for production while on
typically a combination of these goals. the contrary, democratic leader behavior was
Individuals may view the leader as effective or described under the concept of responsibility
ineffective from the total work experience. In without string. The leader helps in defining
fact, acceptance of a leader’s directives or problems and making resources available to the
requests rests largely on the followers’ subordinates.
expectations that a favorable response can lead Many studies have in fact shown that
to an attractive outcome. Leadership results subordinates prefer employee-oriented leaders.
when a person influences followers to accept his Warr and Wall (1975), found that employee-
requests without any apparent exertion of power. oriented leadership related positively to job
Through an ability to influence, the leader performance and commitment. This is so
creates and uses the power and authority he because employee oriented leadership involves
receives from followers. notions of consideration and pleasantness and
The effectiveness of a leader is most people prefer others to be considerate and
measured by the performance of his or her pleasant to them. Though not every individual
followers on the job and the extent to which such prefer employee-oriented leaders, some regards
followers are committed to the line of business their supervisor as a decision maker and they
done by the organization. The view that the feel it is inappropriate that employees should
immediate socio-economic environment is critical have to take decisions for which they are not
in career commitment and job performance has paid. Such individuals regarded participation in
been a potent force in the development of ideas decision-making, as part of Herzberg’s (1969)
on job performance and career commitment. hygiene factors, which does not necessarily
Human relationships at work, particularly, friendly increase commitment and job performance,
superior and congenial work-mate were rather they prefer task – oriented supervision.
considered by the human relation school to be The 1990’s are headed in the direction of
critical in career commitment and job becoming the decade of women in leadership.
performance. Twenty years ago, women managers and
The nature of supervision used by executives were decided in the minority, but the
leaders in an organization in the process of the 1990’s are part of a new era. Today, women are
daily affairs and running of the organization can starting new business at twice the rate of men.
have considerable effects on an individual’s job Women hold about 39 percent of the 14.2 million
performance and career commitment. One of executive, administrative and management jobs
the major distinctions made in discussing (Wall Street, 1992). Women are emerging in
leadership style is that between democratic traditionally male-dominated business, political,
(employee-oriented) and autocratic (task- medical, religious and social activist settings
oriented supervision). more rapidly than ever before. According to
INFLUENCE OF GENDER AND LEADERSHIP STYLE ON CAREER COMMITMENT 3
Patricia and John (1992), today, women owned enhance staff performance and commitment to
businesses employ as many people as the the job. In a survey of 321 community college
Fortune 500 companies put together. faculty comparing reported job performance with
Each woman, like each man, has her their perception of the leadership style of their
own personal style. The personal style, may be college’s president. Mckee (1991) found high
any of autocratic, democratic, charismatic, or correlation between job performance and high
transformational. The one billion dollar question relation, low task leadership style.
which is yet to be answered however is if: It is worthy of note that there is no one
Women leaders are different from their men right way to lead different leadership behaviors
counterpart?. Thus far, research suggests some can result in the same level of perceived
differences, but non stands out. In most cases, a effectiveness in the management role. What is
good female leader appears to lead in a manner also known is that the demands on leaders are
similar to a good male leader. To have a growing as the world becomes a more complex
productive organization, competent leaders are place, markets become more competitive, and
needed regardless of gender. Leaders that can the worldwide war for talent and expertise heats
effectively motivate followers to achieve up. The wider the range of leadership skills and
organizational goals by improved job abilities an individual can bring to their
performance and higher sense of career organization, the more certain they can be of
commitment. successfully overcoming the obstacles and
Gruneberg (1984) in a study showed that exploiting the opportunity that today’s managers
the immediate social environment of a worker, must meet on a day to day basis. There is the
that is, the nature of supervision he/she receives need to step back and investigate whether there
from his/her leader plays an important role in are differences in how women and men lead in
determining career commitment and job organizations. Gender and leadership styles can
performance, and indeed productivity. The be responsible for differences in job performance
proposition that career commitment and job and career commitment among subordinates.
performance has a relevant impact in the level of This therefore leads to the following four
productivity of an organization has been hypotheses postulated in this study.
promulgated for at least half of a century. When
the level of commitment and performance of a Hypotheses
worker in an organization is low, then the level of 1. There would be a statistically significant
productivity will also be low. But on the other difference between males and females
hand, if the level of commitment and on career commitment.
performance of the worker is high, then the 2. There would be a statistically significant
productivity rate will also be high. difference between Autocratic and
The purpose of this study is to examine Democratic styles on career
whether gender and leadership styles of commitment.
supervisors in an organization has a significant 3. There would be a statistically significant
influence on the career commitment of difference between males and females
subordinates and the extent to which they on job performance.
perform either high or low on the job. According 4. There would be a statistically significant
to Steale and Hubbard (1985), leadership style difference between Autocratic and
has been found to have a correlation with career Democratic styles on job performance.
commitment and job performance. Stogdill
(1974) review suggested that the relationship METHOD
between leadership styles and career
commitment and performance of subordinates Participants
indicates that person-oriented patterns of The first step in obtaining a sample is to
leadership tend to enhance employees identify the population of interest. The population
satisfaction. Hose and Mitchell (1944), for this study was drawn from two brewing
investigated the relationship between the leaders companies in Benin City, Edo State. They are
participation, subordinate authoritarianism, task the Nigeria Bottling Company (Makers of Coca-
up
type and satisfaction. It was found that Cola) and the 7 bottling company (makers of
up
authoritarian methods and staff educational 7 ). Eighty – two (82) participants were drawn
diversity and adequate collection resources from the Nigerian Bottling Company, while the
up
linked to a participative management style other 65 participants were drawn from the 7
4 O. A. AFOLABI, O. J. OBUDE, A. A. OKEDIJI AND L. N.EZEH
bottling company. Out of about 160 Performance information was tapped using a 19-
questionnaires that was administered, only 147 item scale developed by Helen, (1990). The
was returned out of which only 140 were found scale has a split-half reliability coefficient of 0.70
useful for data analysis, this is because 7 and a validity coefficient of 0.78. Gender of
respondents did not either fill the questionnaire Supervisors was measured by respondents
correctly or did not complete them. From the indicating whether they are males or females.
sample, 89 (63.3%) were males, 44 (31.4%)
were females, while 7 (5%) did not indicate their Design /Statistics
sex. The ages of the respondents were as
follows, 37 (26.4%) were 25 years and below, 31 The design used for this study was the
(22.1%) were between 26 – 35 years; 21 (15%) randomized design. Subjects were randomly
were between 36 – 45 years; 32 (22.8%) were selected with special emphasis on workers under
55 years and above. Based on educational either a male supervisor or a female supervisor.
qualification, 83 (59.3%) had OND and below, 47 There two independent variables of interest in
(33.6%) had degrees (HND, B.sc, B. A, B.Ed., this study and each also in two levels namely;
etc.), the rest 10 (7.1%) did not indicate their gender (male and female), leadership style
educational qualifications. Besides this, 70 (autocratic and democratic). The dependent
(50%) indicated that they were single, 48 variables were two, also having two levels
(34.2%) were married; 10 (7.1%) were separated namely; career commitment (high and low), and
while 12 (8.5%) were widowed. Also 87 (62.1%) job performance (high and low). The statistical
were Christians, 23 (16.4%) were Muslims, 13 analysis used for the analysis of the collected
(9.3%) were practices traditional religion, while 7 data is the 2 x 2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
(5%) belong to other religious groups. Lastly, 67
(47.8%) respondents indicated that their Procedure
supervisors were females while 73 (53%) have
male supervisors. The following procedure was adopted to
achieve the cooperation of the respondents. At
Instruments the beginning, the researcher obtained
The instrument used was a permission from the management of the
questionnaire, which tapped different measures organization after they were referred to the
like demographic information, gender, leadership human resource manager who was directly in
style, and career commitment and job charge of the workers who thereafter granted
performance. The questionnaire was divided permission to administer the questionnaire. At
into five (5) sections. Section A measured the point of administration, respondents were
demographic information like age, sex, education given information as to the nature and purpose of
qualification and so on. Gender was measured the study. A guarantee of confidentiality of
by respondents indicating whether they are information and an appreciation of respondents’
males or females. Leadership style was time was also expressed. Instruments were
measured by using a 30-item scale by Ahmen given the respondents to guide them in the
(1983). Items 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, process of filling the items in the questionnaire.
23, 25, 27 and 29 measured autocratic Since the findings of the study are based on
leadership style, while items 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 12, subjects’ response to items on the questionnaire,
14, 16 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 measured various steps were taken to ensure good
democratic leadership style. The scale has a response. Such step included the use of simple
test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.71 and a 0.76 and concise statements and questions.
validity coefficient among the samples. Career
Commitment was measured with a 15-item scale RESULTS
developed by Allen and Meyer (1990). The scale The table below shows the mean
was found to have split-half reliability coefficient performance of Gender and Leadership style on
of 0.66 and a validity coefficient of 0.71. Job career commitment.
 INFLUENCE OF GENDER AND LEADERSHIP STYLE ON CAREER COMMITMENT 5
Table I: Means of Gender and Leadership Style on Career Commitment

Leadership style
Autocratic Democratic
Gender Mean Mean Total
Male 33.90 34.34 34.12
Female 51.24 31.44 41.34
Total 42.57 32.85 75.46

From the table above, the mean table further revealed that males under democratic
performance for females was found to be higher than leadership had a higher mean score than males
that of males on career commitment (34.12 Vs. working under Autocratic leadership (34.34 Vs.
41.34). The table of means also revealed that 33.90), while females working under Autocratic
workers under Autocratic Style had a higher mean leadership were found to have higher mean scores
score when compared with their counterparts under on career commitment than their counterparts under
democratic leadership (42.57 Vs. 32.89). The mean Democratic leadership (51.24 Vs. 31.44).

Table II: Summary of 2x2 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Showing the influence of gender and leadership style on
career commitment.
Source SS df Ms F p

Factor A 101.32 1 191.32 3.34 ns

Factor B 317.70 1 317.70 10.47 **
A Vs. B 91.04 1 91.04 3.00 ns
Error 4126.84 136 30.34
Total 4341.39 139

Note : Factor A = Gender; Factor B = Leadership Style; **significant at p<.01

The results of a 2-way ANOVA show that 10.47; p<.01]. Further, analysis also reveals a
there was a statistically significant influence of statistically significant joint influence of gender
gender on career commitment (F(1,136) = 3.34; and leadership style on career commitment
ns). Leadership style also has a significant [F(1,136) = 3.00; p<0.5].
influence on career commitment [F(1,136) =

Table III: Means for gender and leadership style on job performance.
Leadership style
Autocratic Democratic
Gender Mean Mean Total
Male 20.36 24.76 22.56
Female 16.12 31.98 24.05
Total 18.24 28.32 46.61

When the Job Performance of male and females (28.32 Vs. 18.24). Conversely, male working
were compared, table III reveals that females under Democratic leaders had a higher mean
had a higher mean score than the males (24.05 performance than male working under Autocratic
Vs. 22.56) on job performance. On the other leaders (24.16 Vs. 20.36), while females working
hand, the means on leadership style reveals that under Democratic leadership were found to have
workers under Democratic leadership perform scored higher than females under Autocratic
better than those under the Autocratic leadership leaders (28.32 Vs. 18.24).
6 O. A. AFOLABI, O. J. OBUDE, A. A. OKEDIJI AND L. N.EZEH

Table IV: Summary of 2 x 2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showing the influence of Gender and
Leadership Style on Job Performance.

Source SS df Ms F p

Factor A 144.93 1 144.93 1.46 ns

Factor B 891.27 1 891.27 9.0 **
A Vs. B 2312.21 1 2312.21 23.35 **
Error 7526.37 36 99.03
Total 8564.89 139
Note: Factor A = Gender; Factor B = Leadership Style; **significant at <.01

The 2 x 2 ANOVA summary table reveals that support from previous study by Hoppock and
there was no significant main effect of gender on Mitchell (1974) who found that the authoritarian
job performance [F(1,136) = 1.46; n.s]. methods staff performance and participative
However, it was found that leadership management style enhance staff performance
style had a significant influence on job and commitment to the job.
performance. [F(1,136) = 9.0; p<.01], Thus the The third hypothesis which predicted a
researcher accepts the hypothesis in line with significant difference between males and
the Prediction of this study. The result also females on job performance was also not
showed the joint influence of gender and confirmed by the findings of the study.
leadership style on job performance of Another finding from the study was the
subordinates [F(1,136) = 23.35; p<.01]. confirmation of hypothesis four which stated that
there would be statistically significant difference
Discussion between autocratic and democratic styles on job
performance. In this study participants’ under the
In line with the predictions of the study democratic leadership style were found to have
hypotheses two and four were confirmed, performed better on the measure of job
however, hypotheses one and three were not performance. Thus, War and Wall (1975), lend
confirmed. The first hypothesis which predicted credence to this finding in they found that
that there would be a significant difference employee- oriented leadership relate positively to
between males and females on career job performance. Furthermore, it was
commitment was not confirmed. However the found that employee oriented leadership involves
second hypothesis which predicted a difference notions of consideration and pleasantness, and
between autocratic and democratic styles on most people prefer others to be considerate and
career commitment was confirmed. The pleasant to them, however it is not all individuals
participants in this study showed higher that prefers employee-oriented leaders.
commitment measure under the autocratic According to Eze (1994) the result in support of
leadership style than under the democratic style. the better performance under the democratic
This finding reveals that the autocratic style led leadership led to more commitment from the
to more commitment, this finding however did not employees. The argument however points in
support most previous studies on leadership the direction of the fact that this style encourages
style which had usually had been in support of cordial interpersonal relationship between the
the democratic style (Warr and Wall, 1975; Eze, employees and the people – oriented leader who
1994 and Gouldner, 1960) in most of this studies motivates subordinates to perform on their jobs
commitment from subordinates is viewed in by means of positive exemplary show of
terms of an exchange of reward-cost notions, influence.
this exchange or bargaining relationships Among the various findings of this study,
between the individual and the organization it was found that employees’ career commitment
means that the more favourable it is from the is greater under the autocratic styles than under
participant’s view point, the greater his the democratic style. This reveals that
commitment. Lurthar, (1996), in a previous study employees are made to have a strong sense of
showed that democratic leaders overall are belonging and also perceive their autocratic
considered as better agents of higher leader with his insistence on the task as
performance. The finding in particular, gains psychologically rewarding in terms of their
INFLUENCE OF GENDER AND LEADERSHIP STYLE ON CAREER COMMITMENT 7
commitment to their chosen career. The Evans, M.G., 1970. The Effects of Supervisory
additional explanations was the significant joint Behavior on the Path-Goal Relationship.
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