Chapter 11: The Complexity of Gender-Role Stereotyping Effects in High School Principal Selection¹

Using a gender-role stereotyping framework, this study tests the main effects and interaction effects of gender (male vs. female) and role conception (manager vs. instructional leader) on the selection ratings of hypothetical applicants for a high school principalship position. Findings revealed no significant gender effect, but a strong preference for instructional leaders over managers. Most importantly, there were a number of significant interaction effects between role conception and other variables, including candidate gender, school district context (urban/suburban vs. rural), respondent position (superintendent/board member vs. human resource director/other), and respondent gender. Perhaps the most notable finding was the significant interaction effect of gender and role conception. That is, male instructional leaders were rated more favorably than female instructional leaders, but female managers were rated more favorably than male managers. This finding suggested that respondents “saw” managerial characteristics in the male instructional leader that they did not see in the female instructional leader, in spite of highly similar candidate resumés. Similarly, respondents “saw” instructional expertise in the female manager that they did not see in the male manager, in spite of highly similar candidate resumés. Results are discussed in terms of implications for hiring noneducators from business/industrial settings and for hiring women educational leaders for the more male-dominated administrative positions of high school principal and superintendent.