Transference and interrupted transference: How a predecessor affects female senior manager dismissal

Abstract

Scholarly work has offered mixed findings regarding whether female leaders are more likely to be dismissed, which suggests that there may be important contingencies that affect how female leaders are assessed. We draw on leadership categorization and role congruity theories and supplement them with transference theory to examine whether the likelihood of dismissal for female senior managers is affected by the organization having previously been led by a woman. Using a sample of women’s college basketball coaches, we find that a female senior manager is less likely to be dismissed when her immediate predecessor was a woman (gender transference effect). We further find that the likelihood of dismissal for the current female leader is lower when the female predecessor performed well compared to when the male predecessor performed well. Finally, we provide evidence that the number of years in which the current female leader’s tenure was preceded by men in the senior position is positively associated with her likelihood of dismissal (interrupted gender transference effect). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.