Kvinnligt ledarskap -­‐i betraktarens öga

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how employees perceive female chief executive officers and if any significant differences between what leadership-skills female and male co-employees choose to express about female leaders can be observed. The survey is performed as a qualitative study where three companies within the retail market participated. We collected our empirical data by interviews and observations and used social constructivist theory to look at how individuals construct their subjective view of reality. The result showed, among others, that female employees often use traditional male skills to describe the strengths of their female chief, whereas male employees emphasizes more female skills such as unpretentious and open-minded.