1 Revisiting Leadership Characteristics of the Glass Cliff Phenomenon: Gender Typed? Janet L. Kottke, Kathie L. Pelletier, Vanessa Beckles, David J. Hutabarat, Gina L. DiPonio, Bich N. Nguyen, and Ashley E. Gonzalez California State University, San Bernardino Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Psychological Association, August 1, 2013, Honolulu, Hawai’i The glass cliff phenomenon, where women tend to be more likely to be promoted to leadership roles in times of crisis (Ryan & Haslam, 2005), has been hypothesized to be caused by a number of possible factors, including stereotypic views. Further, the glass cliff phenomenon poses detrimental consequences for women. In this study, we aimed to replicate the Bruckmüller and Branscombe (2010) study to determine whether gender stereotypes relate to people’s perceptions of desirable leadership traits under the paradigms “think manager – think male” and “think crisis – think female.” Students with work experience were asked to rate a list of 58 traits on two bi-polar scales related to gender and leadership in organizations during times of success and crisis. Although some traits were in fact rated as being representatively male or female and characteristic of being needed in times of crisis or success, there was very little overlap with the desirable gender-typed leadership traits and the paradigm was not supported. Unlike the glass ceiling, where women fail to reach the upper echelon due to perceptual biases, stereotypes, and organizational barriers (e.g., lack of mentoring, dead-end assignments), the glass cliff phenomenon, identified by Ryan and Haslam (2005), posits that women are more likely to be appointed to leadership roles when an organization is in crisis. Consequently, women find themselves in precarious positions with the likelihood of their success diminished given the risk associated with organizational decline and the attributions made about female leaders who are at the helm when an organization “dies.” One area of interest regarding the glass cliff is people’s perception of personality traits. Specifically, it is of interest to see how stereotypic views of gender relate to leadership characteristics needed in organizations that are thriving or in crisis. Many stereotypic views in relation to gender may be attributed to either communal or agentic traits (Eagly & Karau, 2002). Communal traits, or characteristics that describe a focus on interpersonal relations and the welfare of others, have commonly been associated with women. On the other hand, agentic traits, or characteristics that emphasize self-promotion and the ability to take control, have been more commonly associated with men. This stark difference in trait attribution has often been shown to lead to different perceptions of leadership ability based on gender. People may stereotype others based on descriptive norms and prescriptive norms. Most of the research on gender stereotypes has been focused on descriptive norms, or views of how people are perceived. Another form of stereotyping that also exists is attributed to prescriptive norms, or views of how people should act (Eagly & Karau, 2002; Sczesny, Bosak, Neff & Schyns, 2004). Descriptive norms may lead to discrimination as male and females are perceived differently simply as a function of their gender. When choosing a leader, different prescriptive norms attributed to leaders may play a role in the selection process. This process is especially apparent depending on the situation of the company when selecting a leader. For instance, traits seen as desirable for leaders can change depending on whether the company they lead is thriving or in crisis. Glass cliff researchers have identified different leadership characteristics perceived to be important in leading companies in crisis and companies that are thriving (Bruckmüller & Branscombe, 2010); these characteristics have been gender-typed. For companies that are thriving, “Think manager – think male” has been found to be a prevalent assumption (Ryan, Haslam, Hersby, & Bongiorno, 2011). Many of the agentic traits that men are perceived to have are also seen as corporately desirable for managers and leaders. Conversely, there is growing evidence showing another thought process, namely “Think crisis – think female”. Research suggests that characteristics perceived to be critical to saving a company in crisis are those commonly associated with stereotypes of female leaders. (Ryan, Haslam, Hersby, & Bongiorno, 2011).