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Dr. Richard D. Arvey is head of the Department of Management and Organization and has been active as an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist for over 30 years.

He has published more than 100 articles, chapters, or technical reports including his book Fairness in Selecting Employees published in 1979, and revised in 1988. He was recognized as one of the top10 most published authors in Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology during the 1980's and 1990's.

He serves/has served on the Editorial Board of several national professional journals, is a Fellow of the Division of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, American Psychological Association, and has held a variety of professional offices and positions.

His research interests include Selection and placement of employees, the employment interview, employment testing, discrimination and bias in selection and employment, job analysis, performance appraisal, motivation and job satisfaction, work redesign, and training and development, and more recently leadership.

Prof Arvey received his PhD from the University of Minnesota
 

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To what extent does genetics predispose certain women to leadership roles and the kinds of leadership they attain? This question, which takes on added interest as we celebrate International Women's Day this month, is explored by Professor Richard Arvey of NUS Business School. He has embarked on a study of this controversial but important topic with collaborators Zhen Zhang and Robert Krueger from the University of Minnesota, and Bruce Avolio from the University of Nebraska.

In addition to investigating genetic determinants on leadership, they also studied environmental influences: family experience (influence from religion, parents, and siblings); and work experience (influence from experiencing a traumatic loss, unexpected opportunity, presence of mentor, etc.). The study also revisits the ‘nature vs. nurture' issue, focusing on 178 fraternal and 214 identical female twins from the U.S., 98.6% of whom have lived together for 14 years or longer since birth.

The Findings

  A woman's attainment of a leadership role is associated with several environmental influences. In particular, women who have had training are more likely to occupy a leadership role. Broadly, both family and work experiences influence leadership, with the latter having a greater influence.

  Some environmental factors are inheritable i.e. 'nature' can influence ‘nurture'. Below are three examples:

  Leadership-talented children are likely to have leadership-gifted parents who provide them with both genes and an environment conducive for the development of leadership.

  Individuals' leadership characteristics can evoke responses from others who shape the environment. For example, leadership-talented individuals may be identified in school or at work early on and given special opportunities.

  Individuals can create their own environment to develop leadership talents (e.g. attending courses to train for leadership positions).

  Whether a woman attains a leadership position is partially explained by genetics.

  Genetic influences account for about 32% of the differences among women with regard to whether they move into positions of leadership.

  Of the 32%, 16.3% is due to unique genetic influence while the remaining, 15.6%, is due to genetic influence via the two environmental factors of work and family experiences.

  Work experience affects women leadership attainment; family experience doesn't.

  The pure influence of work experience effect on leadership is 12%.

  Family experience influences leadership indirectly via genetics.

Conclusion

It appears that genetics accounts for 32% of whether an individual occupies a leadership role. Another 10 to 15% is attributed to work and broader life events. The remaining 50% is yet to be explained.