Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Lisa A. Steelman

Second Advisor

Jessica L. Wildman

Third Advisor

Patrick D. Converse

Fourth Advisor

Renee Nicole Souris

Abstract

Despite decades of research on leadership development, we know surprisingly little about why capable, confident people choose not to pursue leadership. This study introduces the Leadership Perception Gap (LPG), a construct that captures discrepancies between ideal leader views and the leaders people actually observe, and tests whether those discrepancies reduce the desirability of leadership roles. LPG was assessed using latent congruence modeling (LCM) to compare ideal leader ratings with vignette-based leader evaluations. The vignettes manipulated leadership style (agentic, communal, balanced) and team composition (all-male, all-female, balanced). Participants were randomly assigned to one condition and evaluated their interest in joining the leadership team using Leadership Role Desirability (LRD). Exploratory factor analysis indicated that leader perceptions clustered into four dimensions: warmth, dominance, competence, and independence. LPG did not differ by gender or executive experience but significantly predicted LRD. For warmth, dominance, and competence, the relationship between LPG and LRD was curvilinear, such that LRD was lowest when discrepancies were largest. Situational stereotype threat moderated the LPG–LRD relationship, amplifying the effect of LPG on LRD, particularly for warmth and dominance among women. Ambition also moderated the relationship, with stronger effects among those higher in ambition, suggesting heightened sensitivity to mismatches. Exploratory analyses indicated that while leader identity predicted LRD, LPG was a stronger predictor. Taken together, these findings suggest that how people perceive the leaders around them can shape their interest in leadership independently of whether they see themselves as leaders. Closing the leadership pipeline gap may require improving the quality of current leaders as well as developing future ones.

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