Soyeon Kim

This paper explores the possibility of advancing beyond gendered communication and leadership styles, emphasising that culture evolves through language, communication and social practices. Constructivists demonstrate how boys and girls are socialised differently and acquire distinct communication styles, and cultural perceptions of masculinity and femininity affect formal and informal aspects of organisations. In reality, women leaders are negatively evaluated and often experience bias when enacting the same communication, whereas men leaders are positively evaluated. Moreover, when their communication style deviates from the socially accepted `female' communication styles, women leaders are negatively assessed. Thus, women leaders who conform more closely to socially accepted gendered roles perpetuate the gender roles. This paper proposes ambidextrous leadership to advance beyond gendered communication styles and manage gender biases, combining `opening' behaviours for building an inclusive and open work environment with `closing' behaviours involving risk management and goal achievement. This style transcends gendered communication styles and can enhance relationships and productivity, especially in volatile business environments such as that in the post-COVID-19 era. In conclusion, the paper recommends that, irrespective of traditional gender labels, men and women leaders practice ambidextrous leadership to balance their styles based on the situation. It also suggests organisational training programmes for ambidextrous leadership, blurring the lines between `male' and `female' styles and adapting to the rapidly changing business environment. In today's evolving organisational contexts, this approach aims to transcend gender bias and improve leadership.

This study examines the influence of leader humility on work–family facilitation (WFF) in the U.S. and Japan by exploring the mediating roles of the four dimensions of psychological empowerment (meaningful work, autonomy, competency, and impact) on this relationship. Drawing from a sample of 392 Japanese employees and 132 U.S. employees, our findings suggest that leader humility is positively related to WFF in both cultural contexts. Meaningful work and departmental impact emerge as significant mediators in both cultures, while the mediation effects of autonomy and competency are valid in Japan only. An additional test reveals that meaningful work is the most significant mediator in both countries, underscoring the pivotal role of leader humility and meaningful work in enhancing WFF. The study adds to the growing literature on the beneficial effects of leader humility on sustainable organizations, while offering insights into improving employee wellbeing and work–life interactions across diverse cultural contexts.

There are two well-known truths about Japan: one is that Japan is one of the most advanced economies, which takes pride in its highly advanced technology, social infrastructure and system; the other is that Japan ranks lowest at women’s social participation among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Even though the Japanese government has initiated programs to promote female participation and advancement in society, these initiatives have not yet borne remarkable fruit. This study intends to address this issue by investigating the effectiveness of female leadership in Japan, specifically its effect on organizations’ gender diversity and inclusion (D&I) climate and employees’ task-related positive attitudes. Synthesizing social information processing theory and social identity theory, the study examines 306 Japanese employees working with their female supervisors in medium- and large-sized manufacturing companies. The findings show that female ambidextrous leadership contributes to shape and strengthen a gender D&I climate and ultimately enhances employees’ hope on their work. In addition, the positive effect of a gender D&I climate on employees’ hope is the same for all employees regardless of gender. The findings clarify the role of female leadership and the underlying psychological mechanism through which female leadership influences employees’ positive work attitudes. This first empirical study in Japan contributes to the research on female leadership and D&I management.