The glass cliff: Appointment of women to precarious positions in times of crisis as an organizational sign of change

目前的研究表明，女性更有可能被任命到特别不稳定的高级职位。这种现象被称为玻璃悬崖。到目前为止，研究主要集中在玻璃悬崖对女性的歧视方面。然而，在不否认调查这种过程的重要性的情况下，我们认为，仅从受害者的角度来看待玻璃悬崖提供了对这一现象的狭隘和不完整的看法。相反，在这个拟议的研究项目中，我们分析了驱动玻璃悬崖的组织动机。我们建议，从本组织的角度来看，任命妇女担任不稳定的领导职位具有战略目的，因为它向本组织的利益攸关方发出领导层更迭的信号。在危机情况下任命妇女为最高管理人员应该会增加人们对本组织很快解决危机问题的能力的信任。通过一项组织层面的档案研究(2003年至2012年在DAX、MDAX和TecDAX股票市场交易的110家最大的德国公司)和两项实验室研究(N=192和240人)，我们测试了四个潜在的缓和变量，它们应该加强或削弱这种影响(可见度、前领导人的性别、身份认同、危机的严重性)。为了证明预期的信号效应是阶级悬崖的基础，在实验室研究中控制了其他可能激励女性晋升的潜在中介变量(例如，关于女性特有的领导素质和多样性好处的假设)。这项工作将扩展目前对玻璃悬崖现象的理论描述，并为更好地理解如何在实践中管理玻璃悬崖铺平道路。

Current research suggests that women are more likely to be appointed to senior positions that are particularly precarious. This phenomenon is called the glass cliff. To date, research has mainly focused on the discriminatory aspects of glass cliffs against women. However, and without denying the importance of investigating such processes, we argue that perceiving the glass cliff only from the standpoint of its victims offers a narrow and incomplete view of the phenomenon. Instead, in this proposed research project we analyze the organizational motives that drive glass cliffs. We suggest that, from the point of view of the organization, the appointment of women to precarious leadership positions serves strategic purposes by signaling change in leadership to the organizations stakeholders. The appointment of women as top-managers in a crisis situation should increase trust in the organization ability to solve the crisis problem soon. With one archival study at the organizational level (the 110 largest German companies traded in the DAX, MDAX and TecDAX stock markets from 2003 to 2012) and two lab studies (N = 192 and 240 individuals) we test four potential moderating variables that either should strengthen or weaken this effect (visibility, gender of previous leader, identification, severity of the crisis). To demonstrate that the expected signal effect underlies class cliffs, other potential mediator variables that could motivate the promotion of women are controlled in the laboratory studies (e.g., assumptions about women-specific leadership qualities and benefits of diversity). This work will extend current theoretical accounts of the glass cliff phenomenon and pave the way to better understanding how to manage the glass cliff in practice.