Female leaders' social network structures and managerial performance: The moderating effects of promotional orientation and climate for inclusion

Leaders' managerial performance is influenced not only by their attributes and leadership styles but also by their social network structures. This study examines the effect of female leaders' in-degree centrality on their managerial performance and how the relationship is moderated by leaders' regulatory focus and workplace climate for inclusion. Hereby, we used survey data of 340 female leaders working in multinational organizations and managerial performance ratings by their supervisors. Results showed that the leaders' in-degree centrality positively related to their managerial performance and that a high climate for inclusion increases this relationship, whereas female leaders' promotional orientation did not. However, when the climate for inclusion was high, female leaders' promotional orientation positively related to managerial performance. This study reveals that female leaders' feeling of inclusion at a workplace complements their promotional orientation and augments the effect of network structures on managerial performance. Our findings provide new prospects for future studies to examine a leader's managerial performance by incorporating social, relational, and structural contexts. This study contributes to women's leadership and social network literature by explaining the boundary conditions that enhance female leaders' managerial performance.