What are the perceived roles of felt emotions, displayed emotions, and emotion regulation in the experiences of women leaders in U.K. Higher Education with regard to their reported leadership behaviours and their perceived leadership effectiveness?

Abstract

This research is grounded in the intersection of literature related to leadership and organisational goals, emotions and leadership, and women-in-leadership. By examining the role of emotions in women’s leadership experiences in U.K. Higher Education, this research is contributing to key areas of interest, notably leadership behaviours and leadership performance. The Gioia Methodology was used to develop findings from the qualitative data contained in 57 semi-structured interviews conducted online with women leaders in U.K. Higher Education. This research has added to theory at the within-person level of analysis, especially with respect to the impact of women leaders’ experiences of felt emotions and emotional labour, through developing understandings of the concepts of emotional absorption and their dynamics with interpersonal emotion regulation. The toll of emotional absorption was reported to impact women leaders’ motivation to lead, women leaders’ performance, women leaders’ relationships with followers, and women leaders’ health. As a result, the role of setting time-limits on leadership roles, enforcing emotional boundaries, and having a strong support network were all raised as key emotional regulation strategies to maintain leadership effectiveness and mitigate the impacts of women leaders’ emotional labour in the context of U.K. Higher Education. In examining women leaders’ experiences of navigating their emotional displays, factors related to the choices of women leaders’ emotional displays despite socio-cultural pressures to conform to existing leadership norms in U.K. Higher Education are also identified and developed as contributions to the literature. Notably, these factors are the role of unemotional presentation of women leaders’ negative emotions, women leaders’ choices to display positive emotions despite transgressing existing norms, disrupting masculine leadership emotion stereotypes through authenticity, and women leaders’ seniority and institutional power in U.K. Higher Education as a buffer against fear of backlash. Further implications and insights are discussed in the context of leadership research and practice for women-in-leadership in U.K. Higher Education.

Date of Award	4 Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Sandra Daniilova Romenska (Supervisor) & Paul Charles Hibbert (Supervisor)