A Cultural Perspective of The Glass Cliff Phenomenon

The purpose of this paper is to reveal whether the phenomenon of the glass cliff, a concept related to gender discrimination, is valid in Turkey, where the level of femininity is relatively high. While the sampling method used was convenience sampling, the data collection tool was a questionnaire. The study was conducted with 240 managers in the business world and the appointment to a glass cliff position was assessed in terms of “suitability, leadership, and trust” dimensions. The findings revealed that managers did not opt for a female executive candidate as the CEO, using a scenario in which the “company performance is poor.” Accordingly, in consideration of contextual fundamentals, it can be suggested that the concept of the glass cliff, a term coined by psychologists Ryan and Haslam in the United Kingdom, where masculinity is predominant, may not be valid for Turkey, where the level of masculinity is relatively low.