Transformational Leadership in Hierarchical Context: A Study of Gender Differences in the Mobile Communication Sector in Egypt

Abstract

This paper empirically studies leaders’ gender differences in transformational leadership among both lower and middle level managers while examining the difference between lower and middle level mangers regarding transformational leadership behaviors. A sample of 122 managers from all three Mobile service providers (Mobinil, Vodafone, and Etisalat) currently operating in Egypt are studied. Transformational leadership was measured through five behaviors using the Bass and Avolio (1997) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Leaders self-rated their transformational leadership behaviors. Results showed that there is no significant difference between lower and middle managerial levels in all transformational leadership behaviors. Female lower level managers did not excel significantly in all transformational leadership behaviors. However they exceled only in the idealized attribute dimension while no significant difference between male and female middle level managers was found.