Gender differences and motivation to lead: how role characteristics and training and development practices influence career choice

This research analyzes gender differences in motivation to lead (MTL) with the aim to understand the influence on career choice of organizational practices for leadership development. MTL is the person’s willingness to claim and continue the role of leadership. By using a vignette methodology to simulate real situations of career advancement, this study tests factors influencing leadership decisions of employees enrolled in multinational corporations. The aim is to understand under which conditions employees would apply for leadership positions considering the impact of individual characteristics (i.e. gender and family care responsibility) and leadership position characteristics such as rewards, type of tasks and work location. It was also evaluated the effect of team composition and the importance of training and development to stimulate people’s willingness to apply for leadership positions. Results showed men displaying more affective and social normative MTL than women. Nevertheless, women would apply for a leader role significantly more than men. Moreover, women are more interested than men in innovative rather than routinely tasks and would prefer receiving leadership development opportunities such as attending leadership training and mentoring programs before considering to apply for leadership roles. Family-care responsibilities and the need to move to a different work location would negatively influence the decision to apply for a leadership position for both men and women, while team composition does not have any impact.