Angelakis, AngelosInwinkl, PetraBerndt, AdeleOzturkcan, SelcenZelenajova, AnnaRozkopal, Veronika2023-08-152023-08-152024Angelos Angelakis, Petra Inwinkl, Adele Berndt, Selcen Ozturkcan, Anna Zelenajova & Veronika Rozkopal (2024) Gender differences in leaders’ crisis communication: a sentiment-based analysis of German higher education leaderships’ online posts, Studies in Higher Education, 49:4, 609-622, DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2023.2246505.0307-5079 (print)1470-174X (online)10.1080/03075079.2023.2246505http://hdl.handle.net/2263/91920DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : On reasonable request, the corresponding author will share the article’s data.This study examined the communication styles of rectors and vice-rectors of German public universities during the COVID-19 pandemic to explore the influence of gender on leadership communication. We collected data from social media and university websites; and analysed the language used to identify transformational, transactional, and servant leadership styles. Our results showed that female leaders demonstrated more positive communication than men and a stronger preference for transformational leadership, while male leaders tended to use a transactional style. Additionally, we found that both male and female leaders exhibited a high degree of empathetic concern for their stakeholders, contributing to the overall positive tone of communication. These findings suggest that gender may play a role in how university leaders communicate during times of crisis, highlighting the importance of inclusive and compassionate leadership in higher education.en© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).LeadershipCrises communicationGenderPublic universityGermanyHigher education institution (HEI)SDG-04: Quality educationArticle