To Delegate or not to Delegate: Gender Differences in Affective Associations and Behavioral Responses to Delegation with Modupe Akinola

Do women and men view delegation differently? In this seminar, Modupe Akinola shares her research showing that women imbue delegation with more agentic traits, have more negative associations with delegating, and feel greater guilt about delegating than men. These associations result in women delegating less than men and, when they do delegate, having lower-quality interactions with subordinates. Furthermore, she discusses an intervention that can attenuate women’s negative associations with delegation.

Modupe Akinola, Sanford C. Bernstein Associate Professor of Leadership and Ethics, Columbia Business School