The Gender Gap in Self-Reported Leadership Skills on LinkedIn

A new study conducted by Alan Benson, professor in the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, has found that women are less likely than their male peers to highlight their leadership skills on their LinkedIn profiles – even when they are already in leadership positions.

The study drew from data on some 13 million LinkedIn profiles in the United States. Men were more likely to highlight their leadership skills, such as as negotiation and project management, while women were more likely to highlight their support skills, such as event planning and time management. Even when controlling for their occupation and company, women were 16 percent less likely than their male peers to list leadership skills on their LinkedIn profiles. While women in senior leadership roles were more likely than women in lower career levels to self-report their leadership skills, their male peers were still more likely to highlight their strong leadership capabilities.

However, this gender gap in self-reported leadership skills varied significantly depending on location, as well as companies’ work-life balance ratings on Glassdoor.com. The gap was almost double in the country’s most socially conservative states compared to the most liberal states. Among companies with the highest work-life balance rating on Glassdoor, the gap was nearly eliminated.

Dr. Benson believes his findings indicate that women’s mitigation of self-reported leadership skills points to differences in cultural and work circumstances, rather than innate gender differences