Unpacking Women’s Worries about Leadership: The Interplay of Perceived Sexism and Organizational Support

Abstract

Background Despite significant advancements in workplace equality, gender-based discrimination continues to hinder women's leadership aspirations and potential. In many non-Western societies, cultural and institutional structures intensify the influence of sexism on women's professional experiences.Objective This study explores how benevolent and hostile sexism, together with perceived organizational support, affect female employees' worries about leadership roles. It also examines whether organizational support moderates the relationship between sexism and leadership-related anxieties.Methods Data were collected from 201 full-time female employees working in various occupations in Türkiye. An online survey included the Worries about Leadership scale, the Perceived Organizational Support Scale, and the Perceived/Experienced Sexism Scale. Hypotheses were tested using moderation analysis via the PROCESS macro.Results Benevolent sexism and perceived organizational support were both negatively associated with worries about leadership. Perceived organizational support moderated the effect of benevolent sexism on leadership worries, such that higher support reduced its impact, demonstrating a crossover effect. Specifically, benevolent sexism was linked to fewer leadership worries when organizational support was low but associated with more worries when support was high. However, hostile sexism showed no main or interaction effect with POS on WAL.Conclusion This study highlights the complex role of benevolent sexism in shaping women's leadership concerns, showing both its potentially protective and harmful effects. It also emphasizes the need for culturally sensitive approaches that go beyond generic organizational support to actively challenge subtle sexism and promote gender-inclusive leadership readiness in non-Western contexts.