• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.121-143
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• 2020

The present study examined the content and changes in leader role schemas associated with 'male' leaders, 'female' leaders, and 'good' leaders over the past 10 years in Korea. In addition, we analyzed how the gender of the respondents affects their perception of male leaders versus female leaders as a good leader. A total of 736 Korean adults residing in the Seoul metropolitan area participated in the survey at two different time points, one in 2007, and the other in 2017. The respondents were presented with a total of 90 behavior items driven from the literature and asked to choose the items that represent male leaders, female leaders, and good leaders, respectively. We found that the chosen behavior items for male leaders versus female leaders matched closely to the typical sex role of males (i.e., being agentic) versus females (i.e., being communal). By contrast, the chosen behavior items for good leaders reflected both the male-typed roles and the female-typed roles. We also found that the role schemas associated with male leaders as well as good leaders have changed over the 10 year period. Those schemas also differed between male versus female respondents. For female leaders, however, the role schemas were found to be stable over the 10 years. We also found that the good leader schemas are more specified and variable than are the male or the female schemas. Additionally, in the 2007 survey male characteristics overlapped with good leader characteristics to a greater degree than did female characteristics. This difference was no longer observed in the 2017 survey. The observed difference in the degree of overlap between male (versus female) characteristics with good leader characteristics was attributable to the perceptions of male respondents. We discuss implications of our findings and directions for future research.