Comparison Of Barack Obama And Hilary Clinton's Leadership Styles

The purpose of Mohammed Shahedul Quader’s study aimed to examine the role of Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton’s leadership styles during the 2008 presidential campaigns and how they relate to four factors: gender, culture, trust, and likelihood of voting. The goals of the study were to a) “quantify the perception of leadership styles” of both presidential candidates, b) investigate whether or not there is a relationship between trust and types of leadership styles, and c) determine how the results can be applied to other examples of leadership.
Quader describes Obama’s leadership style as “inspirational” and Clinton’s as “pragmatic.” When comparing their leadership and personalities to Boseman’s 2008 study on the traits followers desire in leaders, Obama was more honest, forward-looking, and inspiring than Clinton, while Clinton was more competent for the position than Obama. Although Obama had the African-American and male votes and Clinton carried the white and female voters, Obama won the Democratic Party Nominee Election because he was more trustworthy based on his
The sex of the respondents was nearly equal, with 56% being male and the other 46% being female. Binary numbers were assigned to both the sexes and nationalities of the respondents. Those who were male or who had a nationality in the West received a 1, while those who were female or from the East received a 0. The respondents received a 5-point Likert scale and were told to connect leadership traits to the two candidates, and eventually had to admit whether or not they thought that the candidates were trustworthy and if they would vote for them. The results indicated that Obama seemed more authentic, honest, and ethical, while Clinton seemed more intelligent and experienced. The results also pointed towards Clinton being a transactional leader while Obama is a transformational