title: Basal testosterone, leadership and dominance: A field study and meta-analysis.
abstract: This article examines the role of basal testosterone as a potential biological marker of leadership and hierarchy in the workplace. First, we report the result of a study with a sample of male employees from different corporate organizations in the Netherlands (n=125). Results showed that employees with higher basal testosterone levels reported a more authoritarian leadership style, but this relationship was absent among those who currently held a real management position (i.e., they had at least one subordinate). Furthermore, basal testosterone levels were not different between managers and non-managers, and testosterone was not associated with various indicators of status and hierarchy such as number of subordinates, income, and position in the organizational hierarchy. In our meta-analysis (second study), we showed that basal testosterone levels were not associated with leadership in men nor in women (9 studies, n=1103). Taken together, our findings show that basal testosterone is not associated with having a leadership position in the corporate world or related to leadership styles in leaders. We suggest that basal testosterone could play a role in acquiring leadership positions through dominant and authoritarian behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: L.van.der.Meij@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Leander
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van der Meij
authors.affiliation: Centre for Leadership & Management Development, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Breukelen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.schaveling@nyenrode.nl.
authors.forename: Jaap
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schaveling
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.van.vugt@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Vugt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012930:Social Dominance; D013739:Testosterone / Q000378:metabolism*; D017132:Workplace
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone
keywords: Authoritarian; Dominance; Leadership; Managers; Meta-analysis; Testosterone