Updating the Glass Cliff: Female Characteristics Perceived Essential for Leading Thriving Companies

Glass Cliff researchers have identified leadership characteristics perceived to be important in leading companies in crisis and companies that are thriving. Results of previous studies have indicated that female gender-typed characteristics appear to be preferred when a company is in crisis; male gendertyped characteristics are preferred for a thriving company (Bruckmüller & Branscombe, 2010; Ryan & Haslam, 2005). This gender-typing of characteristics suggests that leaders with stereotypically female traits are perceived to be critical in rescuing a company in crisis. The purpose of our study was to explore the gender-typing of leadership characteristics perceived to be critical in a thriving company versus a company in crisis. A sample of a diverse university population in Southern California were given short vignettes and asked to rank leadership characteristics that would be important for a new CEO. Unlike results of previous studies, no characteristics- male or female-typed- -emerged as highly essential for the leader of the company in crisis. Also contradictory to the glass cliff hypothesis, of the characteristics perceived to be more typical of female leaders, four appeared in the list of five characteristics attributed to leaders of thriving companies (sophisticated, fairness, rationality, and successful self-presentation). These findings appear to disconfirm the assumption that male gender-typed characteristics would automatically be identified as needed for leaders of thriving companies, or that characteristics of female leaders would be seen as particularly appropriate for companies in crisis. Our findings suggest context is important to understanding the parameters of the glass cliff