The research project “Does care for family members increase caring leadership?” (“Fördert Fürsorge für Angehörige fürsorgliche Führung?“) under the direction of Prof. Dr. Claudia Peus and Dr. Lisa Horvath is located at the Chair of Research and Science Management at Technische Universität München. It deals with gender-specific consequences of leadership at the interface of private and professional life. The research project is within the scope of the chair`s exploratory focus Leadership & Leadership Development. Leadership and gender theories are combined to an innovative approach for the investigation of leadership and care. 

The project focuses on two research gaps, which are important both for corporate practice as well as for leadership research:

(1) How do care roles in private life (e.g. parental leave, caring for elder relatives) affect the evaluation of female and male leaders?  

(2) How does care-oriented leadership affect employees’ motivation and well-being?

The theoretical foundation of this research project consists of established theories about gender roles in the context of leadership and ethics-oriented leadership theories. There will be a multi-part series of studies conducted, which includes a german-wide online survey for leaders and their employees as well as a causal analysis using laboratory experiments conducted at the Technische Universität München

The practical transfer aim of this research project is a contribution to the discussion „leadership and family“: What are the positive consequences for organzations and their employees, when leaders combine care-roles in private life and occupational leadership-roles. Two transfer conferences and an information brochure facilitate transfer between science and practice of the research project.