According to research by Isabel Villamor and Herman Aguinis published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, the likelihood is that you imagined a man.
In an extensive research project included three separate studies and 2,322 participants, the researchers explored the concept of star performers, which are defined in the paper as: “individuals widely and enduringly perceived as possessing rare, desirable qualities through which they can produce exceptional outcomes”.
Traits of a star performer
Building on previous research that shows a concerning star performer gender gap, making it more difficult for women to be recognized as stars, the authors found that star performers are believed to have six characteristics:
- Driven
- Relational
- Extraordinary
- Fascinating
- Tenacious
- Brilliant
Their findings showed that people associated star performers with more masculine than feminine attributes, which they labelled the think star, think men phenomena.
Critically, this finding was context-dependent. The association of stars with masculine attributes was stronger in men-dominated occupations than in women-dominated occupations.
Prototypes bias evaluations
These findings are important as when people evaluate a star performer, they compare that individual to a prototypes (typical features of that category) they implicitly hold in their minds (in this case shown to be Driven, Relational, Extraordinary, Fascinating, Tenacious, Brilliant). In other words, they evaluate the person based on similarity to the prototype rather than the person’s actual behaviour.
The authors argue that to avoid perpetuating the star performer gender gap, individuals must proactively acknowledge and recognize the existence of think star, think men phenomenon. Specifically, individuals in privileged positions must take responsibility for identifying and rectifying gender inequality such as think star, think men.
You can access the original article here.
