Ryan, M. K., & Haslam, S. A. (2005). The glass cliff: Evidence that women are over-represented in precarious leadership positions. British Journal of Management, 16, 81-90.

There has been much research and conjecture concerning the barriers women face in trying to climb the corporate ladder, with evidence suggesting that they typically confront a ‘glass ceiling' while men are more likely to benefit from a ‘glass escalator'. But what happens when women do achieve leadership roles? And what sorts of positions are they given? This paper argues that while more women are now achieving more high profile positions, they are more likely than men to find themselves on a ‘glass-cliff', such that their position of leadership is risky or precarious. This hypothesis was investigated in an archival study examining the performance of FTSE 100 companies before and after the appointment of a male or female board member. The study revealed that during a period of overall stock market decline those companies who appointed women to their boards were more likely to have experienced consistently bad performance in the preceding 5 months than those who appointed men. These results expose an additional, largely invisible, hurdle that women need to overcome in the workplace. Implications for the evaluation of women leaders are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.

Ryan, M. K., & Haslam, S. A. (2005) The glass cliff: Implicit theories of leadership and gender and the precariousness of women's leadership positions. In B. Schyns & J. R. Meindl (Eds.), Implicit leadership theories: Essays and explorations . Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Women continue to be under-represented in leadership positions with evidence suggesting that they typically confront the invisible barrier of a ‘glass ceiling' while men are more likely to benefit from a ‘glass escalator'. Further, recent research reveals that women are beginning to break through the glass ceiling only to be subjected to further obstacles: greater scrutiny and criticism than men, less positive evaluations, even when performing exactly the same leadership roles as men (Eagly et al., 1992) . Workers also tend to prefer male supervisors to female ones (e.g., Simon & Landis, 1989), and many men and male managers remain unconvinced about the effectiveness of women leaders (Sczesny, 2003). Many of these attitudes derive from people's implicit theories about leadership and gender, and the compatibility between beliefs about what it means to be a good leader and what it means to be male (e.g., Schein, 2001).

However, the definition of what it means to be a leader is not the same across all situations. This chapter introduces an additional, largely invisible, hurdle that women need to overcome in the workplace. Extending the metaphor of the glass ceiling and the glass elevator, we argue that women are more likely than men to find themselves on a ‘glass-cliff', such that their position of leadership is risky or precarious. Consistent with this view, archival evidence from business and politics suggests that women are more likely to be appointed to a leadership position following a period of poor company performance (Ryan & Haslam, 2004a) or where success in relatively unlikely (Ryan & Haslam, 2004b). Experimental studies also suggest that this tendency need not arise from a conscious act of discrimination and is displayed by participants who do not endorse traditional sexist beliefs (Ryan & Haslam, 2004c). Theoretical explanations of the glass cliff are considered in light of relevant empirical evidence, and the broader implications of the phenomenon are elaborated.

Ryan, M. K., & Haslam, S. A. (2007). The glass cliff: Exploring the dynamics surrounding women's appointment to precarious leadership positions. Academic of Management Review.

The phenomenon of the glass ceiling is well-documented, but in this paper we explore a secondary form of discrimination — the glass cliff — whereby the positions women gain on entering senior management tend to be more precarious and to be associated with greater risk than those occupied by men. Archival and experimental evidence of the glass cliff is reviewed and multiple processes are identified as having the potential to contribute to the phenomenon. These include sexism and ingroup bias, group dynamics, implicit leadership theories, and the desire to signal organizational change. A range of potential reactions to the phenomenon are also outlined. Following social identity theory, these vary as a function of gender identification and the perceived legitimacy and stability of relations between men and women. Strategies for eliminating glass cliffs are elaborated, but as with other forms of (gender) discrimination it is argued that these depend upon the capacity for disadvantaged groups to mobilize collectively in order to promote change and to overcome resistance on the part of those who are motivated to maintain the status quo.

Ryan, M. K., Hersby, M. D., & Kulich, C. (in submission). Responding to negative identities: The independent role of the three factors of identity. Manuscript in submission: The University of Exeter.

Previous research has demonstrated that higher levels of identification can lead members of disadvantaged groups to challenge the status quo.  But what does it mean to identify highly with a group, especially one that is associated with a negative identity? This research uses a three factor model of identity (ingroup ties, centrality, affect) to examine the way in which members of two very different stigmatised groups (a) cigarette smokers (Study 1, N = 107) and (b) women (Study 2, N = 399) respond to their negative social identities through the distinct strategies of individual mobility, social creativity and social competition.  Study 2 also builds on the rejection-identification model by examining the way in which perceptions of discrimination impact on the three factors of identity.  Results suggest that distinct patterns in the three aspects of identity are better predictors of strategy choice than a single measure of identification, but, due to differences in social structural variables (e.g., permeability and legitimacy) these patterns differ for smokers and women.  Furthermore, Study 2 also demonstrates that perceptions of discrimination differentially impacts on ingroup ties, centrality, and affect, giving further support for the necessity of distinguishing between the three factors of identity.

Haslam, S. A., & Ryan, M. K. (in prep). The road to the glass cliff: Differences in the perceived suitability of men and women for leadership positions in succeeding and failing organisations. Manuscript submitted for review: University of Exeter.

Research into gender and leadership has tended to focus on the inequalities that women encounter while trying to climb the corporate ladder, the so-called ‘glass ceiling' and ‘glass elevator'. However, recent archival evidence has identified an additional hurdle, the ‘glass cliff'. This refers to evidence that women are more likely than men to be selected for leadership roles associated with increased risk (Ryan & Haslam, 2004). This paper presents two experimental studies (N = 95, N = 38) investigating the glass cliff phenomenon. In these, participants chose either a leader (Study 1) or a group representative (Study 2) for a hypothetical company whose performance was either improving or declining. The results of both studies accorded with those of archival research indicating that a female candidate was more likely to be selected for a position when a company's performance was declining rather than improving. These results confirm the robustness of the glass cliff and shed some light on the underlying psychological processes. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.

Ashby, J., Ryan, M. K., & Haslam , S.A. (in prep). The glass cliff: Are women lawyers given more risky or precarious leadership positions? Manuscript in preparation: University of Exeter.

Based on their recent archival and experimental research, Ryan and Halsam (2004) have extended the metaphors of the ‘glass ceiling' and the ‘glass elevator' to include the ‘glass cliff'. They suggest that women are likely to find themselves on top of a ‘glass cliff' in that they are appointed to leadership positions in problematic organisational circumstances, which are risky and precarious. This paper presents an experimental study ( N =58) investigating the glass cliff phenomenon in a legal setting, in which participants chose a candidate to lead a defence team for a legal case which was either risky or non-risky. Commensurate with Ryan and Halsam's (2004) previous findings, the results of the study provide further empirical replication of the glass cliff, and also illustrate that the phenomenon does generalise beyond the business and political arenas to a legal setting. This study also sheds some more light on the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon through the way participant's evaluated candidates and the way they perceived the leading lawyer position itself. We build a case that a key motivator behind the appointment of women to risky leadership position is discrimination. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Ryan, M. K., Haslam, S. A., & Kulich, C. (in submission). Politics and the glass cliff: Evidence that women are preferentially selected to contest hard-to-win seats. Manuscript in submission: University of Exeter.

Recent archival and experimental research by Ryan and Haslam (2005a, Haslam & Ryan, 2006) has revealed that women are more likely than men to be appointed to leadership positions when an organisation is in crisis.  As a result, women often confront a ‘glass cliff’ in which their position as leader is precarious. This paper uses archival and experimental methods to extend this research by examining the precariousness of the political positions women are selected to contest. Study 1 examined the 2005 UK General Election and found that, in the Conservative Party, women contested harder-to-win seats than did men. Study 2 (N = 44) investigated the selection of a candidate to contest a by-election in a seat that was either safe (held by own party with a large margin) or risky (held by an opposition party with a large margin). Results indicated that a male candidate was more likely than a female to be selected to contest a safe seat, but there was a strong preference for a female rather than a male appointment when the seat was described as hard to win.  Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Kulich, C , Ryan, M.K., & Haslam, S. A. (in prep). Are Ethnic Minorities Predestined to Lose in UK General Elections? Manuscript in preparation: University of Exeter.

Literature on the British parliament shows that ethnic minorities are still under-represented. This paper presents three studies on processes underlying the persistence of this problem. In the UK a single member constituency system is used whereby candidate selection by the parties determines who will contest for parliamentary seats. The first study, an archival study on UK General Election between 1997 and 2005, reveals that ethnic minority candidates are put into less winnable seats in the sense that the opposition candidate held a seat with a significantly larger majority (e.g. Conservative Party 33%) than the opposition candidate in the seats in which white candidates ran (e.g. Conservative Party 14%). Following research by Ryan and Haslam (2005), which showed that minorities are more likely to be appointed to risky leadership positions (glass cliff positions), two experimental studies were conducted to investigate processes which lead to the appointment of ethnic minority candidates to less winnable as well as less desirable positions. The studies focused on the appointment of a black and a white candidate in a seat at a pre-election stage (selection of a candidate to stand in a seat) that was either winnable or not winnable (study 1), and a seat at an election stage that was either desirable or not desirable (study 2). The choice of candidate is analysed as a function of candidates’ (a) ethnicity, (b) ability to represent and lead the constituents, and (c) suitability for the position. Practical implications of ethnic minority aspects in candidate selection will be discussed.

Ryan, M. K., Haslam, S. A., Hersby, M.D., & Bongiorno, R. (in prep). Think crisis–think female: Using the Glass Cliff to reconsider the think manager – think male stereotype . Manuscript in preparation: University of Exeter.

The association of perceptions of managers with perceptions of men (the think manager-think male stereotype) has been said to underlie many gender inequalities in the workplace (e.g., Eagly & Karau, 2002; Schein, 1973, 1975). However, research tends to focus on the content of people's beliefs about management and gender and fails to consider potential flexibility in these stereotypes across context. Indeed, research suggests that what is from needed from management when things are going well is very different than when things are going badly (Pillai & Meindl, 1998). Further, recent research into the glass cliff reveals the importance of gender when making decisions about management in times of poor performance (e.g., Ryan & Haslam, 2005a) and suggests that people may indeed think crisis – think female. Four studies were conducted to examine differences in stereotypes for managers of companies than are doing well and doing badly. The first three studies replicated the think manager – think male stereotypes for descriptions of managers of successful companies, but demonstrated that this effect was either attenuated (Studies 1 and 2), or reversed (Study 3), for managers of unsuccessful companies. Study 4 extended these findings by examining the prescriptive nature of the stereotype. Results suggests that there was no think manager – think male relationship for reports of what managers of successful managers should be like, and that participants did indeed think crisis – think female when outlining managers of unsuccessful companies. Overall, the results suggest that there is no simple association between what is managerial and what is male and points to the importance of context and gender of respondent when examining these stereotypes. The practical and theoretical implications of these results for gender discrimination in the workplace are discussed.

Kulich, C., Ryan, M. K., & Haslam, S. A. (in press). Where is the romance for women leaders? Gender effects on leadership attribution and performance-based pay. Applied Psychology: An International Review Special Issue.

This paper extends prior research on the romance of leadership by examining (a) whether the romance of leadership holds for women as well as for men, and (b) the impact of the romance of leadership on performance-based pay. An experimental study (N = 210) suggests that the romance of leadership does exist for both men and women but that the process of pay allocation differs as a function of gender. For a female leader the allocation of a performance-related bonus is based on perceptions of her charisma and leadership ability rather than resulting directly from company performance. However, for a male leader bonus allocation reflects the romance of leadership such that improved company performance leads to increased perceived charisma, increased leadership ability, and a larger bonus. Practical implications for the gender pay gap are discussed.

Hersby, M., Ryan, M. K., & Haslam, S. A. (in prep). Gender differences in mentoring: A social identity approach. Manuscript in preparation: University of Exeter.

Mentoring is seen to be a potential solution to gender inequalities in the workplace and is becoming an increasingly popular topic in social and organizational psychology. This paper presents a program of research, which examines a series of questions related to the gendered issues surrounding mentoring: Who do women want to mentor? What do women want to get from mentoring? Do women engage in mentoring to help women as a collective or do they perceive mentoring to be a strategy for individual success? And is mentoring always beneficial? Using a social identity approach we will consider research that suggests that gender identification and individual upward mobility can influence willingness to mentor and the gender-composition of the mentoring relationship (Ellemers et al., 2004). Further, we will evaluate the consequences that women's belief system can have on mentoring as a strategy for collective social mobility (Jetten et al., 2004). The theoretical implications of the research will be discussed together with the implications of the research for workplace mentoring as a means of readdressing gender inequalities.

Kulich, C., Trojanowski, G., Ryan, M. K., Haslam, S. A., Renneboog, L. (in prep).Putting the gender pay gap in context – Evidence that only men receive carrots and (sticks). Manuscript in preparation: University of Exeter.

This paper offers a new analysis of the gender pay gap by highlighting the circumstances under which pay differences occur. Results demonstrate the context dependence of the gender pay gap by examining managerial bonuses under different company performance conditions. In a matched sample of 192 female and male executive directors of UK companies, the gender pay gap was in evidence, but moreover, managerial compensation was more performance sensitive for male compared to female directors. Gender differences in risk attitudes and confidence and the pay decision process are discussed. The implications of these findings are considered in terms of the retention of female talent and explanations based on gender stereotypes.

Updated on August 2, 2007