Women and racialized CEOs may outperform their peers because they face tougher barriers to the top

According to The Conversation (Canada), new research suggests that women and racialized CEOs may outperform their peers not because of inherent traits, but because they face tougher barriers to the top. The study, based on more than eleven thousand firm-year observations of large U.S. companies from nineteen ninety-eight to two thousand thirteen, found that firms led by racialized women posted the strongest financial performance, followed by white women, then racialized men, with white men at the bottom. The researchers argue this pattern is consistent with a filtering effect: the more barriers a group faces, the more exceptional those who make it through must be. They also found companies are more likely to appoint women or racialized executives when the company is already struggling, a pattern known as the glass cliff. The authors say the explanation matters because if boards assume these leaders have special qualities, they may overlook the need to fix the selection process itself.

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