NEWS & INSIGHT
HOW GENDER STEREOTYPES COMPEL FEMALE CEOs TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN BUSINESS ACQUISITIONS SCHOOL : International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University COUNTRY : China
There is a perception, corroborated by some prior research, that female CEOs are less likely to take risks and therefore don’t engage in as many acquisitions as their male counterparts. The conventional interpretation here is that female CEOs tend to be more cautious than male leaders. However, there are many high-profile cases to challenge this supposition, such as former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who executed 53 acquisitions between 2012 and 2015, or Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard, who led a landmark mega-merger with Compaq in 2001. In this context, new research involving International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) offers an altogether different perspective. It states that gendered stereotypes of leadership make female CEOs more likely to engage in acquisitions and risky strategies than men. The reason, it suggests, is that they are seeking to gain support from their peers and subordinates by adopting a bold and stereotypically male approach. The counter-stereotypical behaviour was found to be particularly pronounced in
environments with stronger gender stereotypes, where female CEOs are more likely to be perceived as undeserving of their positions. In this way, the study demonstrates that female CEOs are not solely influenced by their own personality traits, but also by the social context in which they live. It also underlines the need to address stereotypes that push women leaders to engage in counter-stereotypical behaviours. Recommendations from the study include investing in more equal boards and top management teams, as well as rethinking how their current composition might be impacting on decision-making processes. Entitled A Counter-Stereotype Perspective on Female CEOs and Acquisition Intensity , the study was published in the Journal of Business Research . It was co‑authored by Shili Chen from the IBSS’s Department of Strategic Management and Organisation. EB
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing AMBA & BGA content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul at t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
Ambition • ISSUE 4 • 2025 11
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online