Year

2026

Season

Spring

Paper Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

Silverfield College of Education and Human Services

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)

Department

Leadership, Organization and Community Impact

NACO controlled Corporate Body

University of North Florida. Department of Leadership, School Counseling & Sports Management

Committee Chairperson

Dr. Amanda Pascale

Second Advisor

Dr. Elizabeth Brown

Rights Statement

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Third Advisor

Dr. Paul Parkison

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Amanda Kulp

Fifth Advisor

Dr. Heather Pease

Department Chair

Dr. Kristi Sweeney

College Dean

Dr. Steve Dittmore

Abstract

Presidential positions lack the same diversity seen at all other levels within higher education, with only 32.8% of college presidents identifying as women in 2022 (American Council on Education [ACE], 2023). This documented lack of diversity amongst college presidents seems to point to a historical bias in hiring practices for these positions with extant research (Correll & Benard, 2006; Eagly & Carli, 2018; Friedmann & Efrat-Treister, 2023; Moss-Racusin et al., 2012; Sussman, 2019), showing search committees seem to be biased against women candidates for presidential and other leadership roles. Universities expect leaders to be dominant in their positions, and society views these attributes more positively when exhibited by men more so than women (Ridgeway, 2001). Utilizing role congruity theory, I conducted a correspondence audit investigating the relationship between gender and hiring practices for university presidents. Using Moss-Racusin et al.’s (2012) framework, I sought to determine whether university faculty expressed a bias against women university presidential candidates. I also sought to reveal the mechanisms of this bias, and consequences within higher education. I hypothesized that participants’ perceptions of candidates would reveal a gender bias favoring men candidates in perceptions of hireability, competence, and salary conferral. Analyses showed no connection between candidate gender and any hiring variable. These surprising results, while not necessarily showing an absolution of gender biases in hiring practices, may point to a more complicated relationship between gender and hireability. I discuss the implications both in the lab, and in real world hiring practices.

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