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Above the glass ceiling: When are women and racial/ethnic minorities promoted to CEO?
Author(s) -
Cook Alison,
Glass Christy
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
strategic management journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 11.035
H-Index - 286
eISSN - 1097-0266
pISSN - 0143-2095
DOI - 10.1002/smj.2161
Subject(s) - glass ceiling , ethnic group , white (mutation) , demographic economics , promotion (chess) , phenomenon , labour economics , political science , business , economics , politics , law , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , gene
Using a dataset of all CEO transitions in Fortune 500 companies over a 15‐year period, we analyze mechanisms that shape the promotion probabilities and leadership tenure of women and racial/ethnic minority CEOs . Consistent with the theory of the glass cliff, we find that occupational minorities—defined as white women and men and women of color—are more likely than white men to be promoted CEO of weakly performing firms. Though we find no significant differences in tenure length between occupational minorities and white men, we find that when firm performance declines during the tenure of occupational minority CEOs , these leaders are likely to be replaced by white men. We term this phenomenon the “savior effect .” © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.