Is there a “glass cliff” for women at the top of the corporate ladder?

Previous studies suggest the presence of a "glass cliff" in the sense that women are more likely than men to be appointed to a top leadership position when that position is already risky and precarious. In this study, we examine the theoretical underpinning of the glass cliff hypothesis and empirically test the hypothesis on a large sample of CEO appointments at S&P 1500 firms. A key departure from previous studies is that we characterize precarious CEO positions as those at firms going through a traumatic event or under financial distress. We find no evidence that women are more likely than men to be appointed to such precarious leadership positions. Multivariate probit regression analysis (with controls for firm and CEO characteristics, year and industry fixed effects) further confirms that pre-appointment firm performance and measures for financial distress have no explanatory power for the decision to name a female CEO. The most influential factor is the percentage of women on the board of directors.