Defining the Alpha Female: A Female Leadership Measure

Abstract

The change in women's social roles has led to the development of the concept of the alpha female, but currently there is no way to measure the construct. The present study discusses the development of a 14-item measure of an alpha female personality that is consistent with current definitions and examines the measure with respect to similar constructs (e.g., self-esteem, emotional intelligence, leadership, and sex-role). The three scales of the Alpha Female Inventory (leadership, strength, and low introversion) were positively related to self-esteem, emotional intelligence, the Student Leadership Profile Inventory, and masculine traits as measured by Bem's Sex-Role Inventory. The Alpha Female Inventory can be used to identify women who embody alpha leadership qualities and to aid in our overall understanding of women as leaders.

Hormones and the Human Alpha Female

“…The subscales of the Alpha Female Inventory (AFI) developed by Ward, Popson, and DiPaolo [49], was used to measure leadership (AFI-L), strength (AFI-S), and extroversion (AFI-LI). The AFI [49] is a 14-item measure of alpha female personality.…”

“…The subscales of the Alpha Female Inventory (AFI) developed by Ward, Popson, and DiPaolo [49], was used to measure leadership (AFI-L), strength (AFI-S), and extroversion (AFI-LI). The AFI [49] is a 14-item measure of alpha female personality. Items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree -1 to strongly agree -5 and summed, with higher scores indicating greater levels of leadership (the desire to be a leader, dominant, and assertive), strength (perceived superiority and physical strength), and low introversion (as an index of extroversion).…”

“…Items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree -1 to strongly agree -5 and summed, with higher scores indicating greater levels of leadership (the desire to be a leader, dominant, and assertive), strength (perceived superiority and physical strength), and low introversion (as an index of extroversion). Defined by Ward, Popson, and DiPaolo [49] as “being quiet and withdrawn from social situations”, low introversion, is considered a proxy measure of extroversion. AFI-LI items are reverse-coded where higher scores indicate lower levels of being quiet and withdrawn.…”

Masculinity, femininity, and leadership: Taking a closer look at the alpha female

“…In the West, alpha women have been described both within the context of masculinity and femininity. Masculine traits such as aggression, assertiveness, academic and professional achievement, confidence, being a supervisor or manager, and exhibiting a “type A” personality [7–11], [37–45] are often used to describe the alpha female. Alpha females have also been described as being “uninhibitedly feminine and sexy” [46], “having a heart” [47], and being a “social lubricator” [48].…”

“…Research on the human alpha female has focused primarily on leadership [7, 8, 10–13, 88, 89]. In this research women who hold a leadership position in student and business organizations are labelled “alpha female”, a “special kind of leader” [11]. Some authors have argued that the emergence of the alpha female identity has been driven by the changing context of leadership, specifically with women taking on more leadership roles, as well as the shift in women’s social roles over the past decade.…”