Younger men and especially younger women are excluded from leadership roles or obstructed from succeeding in these positions by facing backlash. Our project aims to build a more gender-specific understanding of the backlash that younger individuals in leadership positions face. We predict an interactive backlash for younger women and younger men that is rooted in intersectional stereotypes compared to the stereotypes based on single demographic categories (i.e., age or gender stereotypes). To test our hypotheses, we collect data from a heterogeneous sample (N = 900) of U.S. citizens between 25 and 69 years. We conduct an experimental online study with a between-participant design to examine the backlash against younger women and younger men.

Dataset for: Daldrop, C., Buengeler, C., & Homan, A. C. (2022). An Intersectional Lens on Leadership: Prescriptive Stereotypes towards Younger Women and Younger Men and their Effect on Leadership Perception. PsychArchives. https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5404

Dataset for: Daldrop, C., Buengeler, C., & Homan, A. C. (2023). An intersectional lens on young leaders: bias toward young women and young men in leadership positions. In Frontiers in Psychology (Vol. 14). Frontiers Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.120454

Research has recognized age biases against young leaders, yet understanding of how gender, the most frequently studied demographic leader characteristic, influences this bias remains limited. In this study, we examine the gender-specific age bias toward young female and young male leaders through an intersectional lens. By integrating intersectionality theory with insights on status beliefs associated with age and gender, we test whether young female and male leaders face an interactive rather than an additive form of bias. We conducted two preregistered experimental studies (N1 = 918 and N2 = 985), where participants evaluated leaders based on age, gender, or a combination of both. Our analysis reveals a negative age bias in leader status ascriptions toward young leaders compared to middle-aged and older leaders. This bias persists when gender information is added, as demonstrated in both intersectional categories of young female and young male leaders. This bias pattern does not extend to middle-aged or older female and male leaders, thereby supporting the age bias against young leaders specifically. Interestingly, we also examined whether social dominance orientation strengthens the bias against young (male) leaders, but our results (reported in the SOM) are not as hypothesized. In sum, our results emphasize the importance of young age as a crucial demographic characteristic in leadership perceptions that can even overshadow the role of gender.