Morehead State University

The Influence of CEO Gender on Firm's Competitive Intensity

Grade Level at Time of Presentation

Senior

Major

Accounting

Institution

Morehead State University

KY House District #

56

KY Senate District #

07

Department

Department of Business

Abstract

We contributed to the ongoing debate about the existence of a female leadership disadvantage through the examination of a female CEO on firm competitive intensity. Role congruity theory would predict that at the executive level in organizations, the contrast between the agentic characteristics, which capture achievement-oriented tendencies (e.g., aggressive), attributed to the male leader and the communal attributes, which capture concern with the welfare of others, associated with the female gender role. It would be pronounced that women who occupy top leader roles would be extremely disadvantaged when compared with their male colleagues. On this basis, a woman-led company is expected to compete less intensely than a man-led company. However, research on double standards of competence (“female leadership” advantage logic) provided reason to expect that a woman’s presence in a CEO role, a highly masculine role, offered information about her abilities; she must be exceptionally competent to have attained success in a role that requires such agentic traits. Thus, research on double standards of competence led to a different prediction: A woman-led company is expected to compete more intensely than a man-led company because of the perception that she must meet or exceed exceptionally high standards to become successful in such position. This view was supported when we considered the fact that women comprise 4.8% of CEOs among the Fortune 500 companies, a very low percentage when compared to men CEOs. We measured the intensity of competition as the total number of competitive actions initiated by a firm. The sample consisted of dual-firm competitive rivalries between a broad cross-section of firms in the Fortune 500. Each dyad consists of one woman-led company and its closest man-led rival ranging from the three-year period of 2019 to 2021.

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The Influence of CEO Gender on Firm's Competitive Intensity

We contributed to the ongoing debate about the existence of a female leadership disadvantage through the examination of a female CEO on firm competitive intensity. Role congruity theory would predict that at the executive level in organizations, the contrast between the agentic characteristics, which capture achievement-oriented tendencies (e.g., aggressive), attributed to the male leader and the communal attributes, which capture concern with the welfare of others, associated with the female gender role. It would be pronounced that women who occupy top leader roles would be extremely disadvantaged when compared with their male colleagues. On this basis, a woman-led company is expected to compete less intensely than a man-led company. However, research on double standards of competence (“female leadership” advantage logic) provided reason to expect that a woman’s presence in a CEO role, a highly masculine role, offered information about her abilities; she must be exceptionally competent to have attained success in a role that requires such agentic traits. Thus, research on double standards of competence led to a different prediction: A woman-led company is expected to compete more intensely than a man-led company because of the perception that she must meet or exceed exceptionally high standards to become successful in such position. This view was supported when we considered the fact that women comprise 4.8% of CEOs among the Fortune 500 companies, a very low percentage when compared to men CEOs. We measured the intensity of competition as the total number of competitive actions initiated by a firm. The sample consisted of dual-firm competitive rivalries between a broad cross-section of firms in the Fortune 500. Each dyad consists of one woman-led company and its closest man-led rival ranging from the three-year period of 2019 to 2021.