Vincenzo Iacoviello

• PhD
• Chargé de cours / Maître-assistant at University of Geneva

Research into the glass cliff indicates that adverse company circumstances, compared to favorable ones, increase the likelihood of women to be appointed in leadership positions. Study 1 refined the conditions under which a glass cliff occurs by demonstrating a preference for a female leader when a company's performance was attributed to past leader...

The present research examines individuals’ concern for the ingroup when they move from a socially disadvantaged inherited background (in terms of gender, ethnicity, and nationality) to a higher social standing through individual achievement. Studies 1-2 show that the status inconsistency between the disadvantaged and the achieved groups undermines...

The glass cliff describes the greater likelihood for women to be selected as leaders under precarious circumstances. In this chapter, we refine the conditions of the glass cliff by showing that it occurs as a consequence of flawed management rather than as a consequence of a general economic crisis. Moreover, we discuss potential functions of this...

Marketing strategies frequently appeal to the individuals’ tendencies to search for uniqueness, which is most often considered to derive from a universal human motive. However, socio-structural factors moderate this tendency. The present chapter discusses two such moderators: culture and social status. First, we provide evidence that in western soc...

In three studies, the authors investigated whether individualistic tendencies are contingent upon ingroup social status. Ingroup status was created using experimental procedures, and individualistic tendencies were assessed as preference for individualistic over collectivistic advertisement messages or preference for scarce over available products....

Atypical political candidates, such as those from ethnic, racial and immigration (ERI) minorities (vs. majority), are more likely to be chosen for hard‐to‐win seats than easy‐to‐win seats, a phenomenon known as the political glass cliff. This research aimed to uncover how the ERI status of decision makers played a role in this process. We hypothesi...

In times of crisis, decision-makers often appoint atypical candidates (i.e., women or ethnic minorities) as leaders, a phenomenon known as the “glass cliff.” Two online experiments (N = 607) with employees in Switzerland and France investigated whether media and stakeholder (i.e., third-party) attention toward the organization drives these preferen...

The glass cliff is characterized by a higher tendency for women than men to be appointed to precarious positions of power. Little research has focused on what may lead people to qualify female appointments as instances of the glass cliff. We analyzed Élisabeth Borne's appointment as Prime Minister, investigating how ideological attitudes and percei...

Political glass cliffs arise when candidates from low-status groups disproportionately run for less-winnable seats. The burden of these worse odds has been shown to negatively impact election outcomes, slowing progress toward fair political representation. Relying on research suggesting signaling motives for glass cliff appointments, we investigate...

Despite some progress towards gender equality in Western societies, traditional gender norms still shape career choices, perpetuating a gender gap where girls are more likely to pursue traditionally feminine fields like healthcare, elementary education, and domestic roles (HEED), while boys are drawn to masculine domains such as science, technology...

Socially mobile minority members (i.e., those who acquire a higher status membership) adjust their social identities, and eventually show negative attitudes towards minorities, as compared to non-mobile members. We examined whether these changes could be understood as the result of individual mobility achievements, or if they already occur at an ea...

This research examined whether female (vs. male) leaders are preferred during a pandemic when stereotypically feminine leadership is deemed useful. We hypothesized that citizens prefer female (vs. male) politicians when the crisis is framed as a social (vs. economic) crisis because they believe it requires feminine (vs. masculine) leadership. In a...

Contemporary evidence suggests that masculinity is changing, adopting perceived feminine traits in the process. Implications of this new masculine norm on gender relations remain unclear. Our research aims to better understand the influence of changing masculine norms on men’s endorsement of gender-hierarchy-legitimizing ideologies. Based on Precar...

Research on underrepresented groups in leadership has shown that women and ethnic minorities are preferred as leaders during a crisis. In the present study, we investigated factors that shape voter preferences for minority political leaders in the COVID-19 crisis. We examined participant perceptions of the severity of the COVID-19 crisis in health,...

Traditional masculinity norms are still prevalent in our societies. As a result, men who deviate from these norms face adverse reactions (i.e., backlash), mainly from other men. The present research investigated whether the perceived threat to gender status quo accounts for this phenomenon. In two studies using a sample of heterosexual men (Ntotal...

Les normes de masculinité traditionnelle contribuent à maintenir le statut privilégié des hommes dans la société et à entretenir les disparités de genre. Cependant, elles semblent être remises en question par un changement du rôle occupé par les hommes dans les sociétés occidentales. Notamment, différents travaux suggèrent que la proportion de cara...

A wealth of evidence has demonstrated that individuals' participation in collective actions largely derives from perceived group disadvantages. In the present research, we hypothesized that engagement in protest activities can be attenuated if the disadvantages originate from legitimate figures of authority. Across three experiments based on vignet...

The present research examines men's self-conscious discomfort while imagining performing counter-stereotypical (traditionally feminine) behaviors as compared to stereotypical (traditionally masculine) behaviors, as a function of traditional masculinity endorsement and perceived social changes in men's gender norms (men's feminization) in two distin...

The ranges of response alternatives presented in frequency scales influence respondents’ behavioral estimates. This research aimed at complementing the existing cognitive interpretations of this scale effect (e.g., Schwarz, 1994). We propose a normative interpretation, according to which targets associated with generic behavioral norms, and with in...

The present research examined the role of social norms as a determining source of ingroup favoritism in minimal groups. Across three studies (total N = 814), results showed that ingroup favoritism was reduced when participants imagined the reaction of an external (and egalitarian) entity, as compared to a control condition or a condition in which t...

Traditional masculinity norms are generally defined as hegemonic because they contribute to maintaining men’s favorable position in the gender hierarchy. Nevertheless, many observers argue that traditional masculinity norms are fading away under the pressure of feminist movements and are being replaced by more progressive, non-hegemonic masculinity...

Research on glass cliff political candidacies shows that compared to men, women are more likely to run for office in districts where they are likely to lose. We examined if party differences in whether female candidates face these worse conditions in the United States could account for persistent and growing party and state variation in women’s rep...

Présentation de nos recherches s'intéressant au processus de naturalisation en tant que trajectoire de mobilité sociale ascendante. La capsule vidéo est consultable à l'adresse suivante : https://osf.io/vkfw9/?view_only=773e613c7f6c449895cdb8f672958fd5&fbclid=IwAR0H79UTYM8XHHM3Olm5iYD3hKpj9DOGNMCKXIliA3AJynfOXMkG4YMCxGk (vidéo en français)

Qu’est-ce qu’un « vrai mec » ? Cette interrogation reflète aussi bien un questionnement personnel qu’un débat de société. Loin d’avoir une forme fixe et universelle, la masculinité est définie socialement et varie selon la culture. Cet article se penche sur la construction de la masculinité et la manière dont elle est affectée par les changements s...

Straight men express more negative attitudes toward feminine, rather than masculine gay men, a phenomenon we label the gay-gender expression effect (GGEE). This effect stems partly from men’s motivation to conform to the antifemininity norm of masculinity. This study investigated whether perceived changes in men’s gender roles moderates this effect...

Introduction Glass cliff evidence shows that women and ethnic, racial, and immigration (ERI) groups are more likely to face precarious leadership positions than majority groups. In politics, this is illustrated by minority candidates running for harder-to-win seats than majority candidates. Objective The present research extends these correlationa...

Social scientists have produced major theoretical and empirical advances documenting the importance of group status in shaping the group members’ perceptions of themselves and of society at large. Evidence is accumulating showing that members of high-status groups favor individualistic and autonomous self-conceptions and worldviews, whereas members...

The present research tested the hypothesis that perceived men’s feminization can decrease heterosexual men’s positive attitudes toward homosexuality because of their increased motivation to psychologically differentiate heterosexual men from gay men - i.e., in order to restore ingroup distinctiveness. Study 1 (N = 173) manipulated perceptions of me...

We present a theoretical model which lines out the circumstances under which benign versus hostile motives lead to a leader selection of minority individuals in crisis situations.

Archival findings have illustrated that ethnic minority candidates likely run for less winnable seats than majority candidates, a phenomenon which aligns with “glass cliff” evidence showing that women are particularly chosen for precarious leadership positions. The present research extends correlational findings for ethnic minorities to an experime...

This research examined the role of ingroup status in the relationship between ingroup identification and self-ingroup similarity. Studies 1a-1b showed that this relationship was stronger in low-status groups than in high-status groups, suggesting that high identifiers from the low-status group seek collective support by assimilating to the ingroup,...

The present research investigates the normative roots of ingroup favoritism, reviving Tajfel's (1970) abandoned “generic norm” hypothesis according to which (1) most ingroups are perceived to promote ingroup favoritism and (2) people infer this normative prescription in newly assigned minimal groups. Anti-discrimination norms are also prevalent, bu...

High identifiers are generally more willing to affiliate to their group and, as a result, perceive themselves and behave as prototypical members of their group. But is this always the case? The present research investigates the when and the why of the positive relationship between ingroup identification and assimilation by focusing on the role of t...

Glass-cliff research shows that female leaders are preferentially selected in a crisis to signal change and not for their leadership qualifications. In parallel, the management literature urges for agentic “masculine” leadership to turn around organizations in crisis. We hypothesized that, regardless of their gender, agentic leaders should be prefe...

Research suggests that members of low-status groups are more likely than members of high-status groups to show self-depersonalization and to favor ingroup members over outgroup members. The present research tests two alternative explanations of this status asymmetry: One explanation is based on the motive for achieving a positive social identity, a...

Empirical findings suggest that members of socially disadvantaged groups who join a better-valued group through individual achievement tend to express low concern for their disadvantaged ingroup (e.g., denial of collective discrimination, low intent to initiate collective action). In the present research, we investigated whether this tendency occur...

The present research examines the impact of ingroup favoritism on self-esteem. According to the self-esteem hypothesis (Abrams & Hogg, 1988), favoring the ingroup over an outgroup should lead to higher self-esteem. However, empirical tests of this hypothesis have revealed mixed results. In order to sort out the heterogeneity of these findings, we i...

Two studies carried outamong Albanian public-sectoremployees examined the impact of different types of affirmative action policies (AAPs) on (counter)stereotypical perceptions of women in decision-making positions. Study 1 (N = 178) revealed that participants - especially women - perceived women in decision-making positions as more masculine (i.e.,...

The glass ceiling and the glass cliff are metaphors that point to discriminatory obstacles that handicap qualified women or other minorities in their professional upward mobility regardless of their actual performances. This entry defines these concepts, gives research illustrations of the phenomena and their causes, and points to real-life example...

L’idée selon laquelle l’égalité sociale s’établira automatiquement lorsque davantage de membres de groupes désavantagés atteindront des postes à responsabilités est très répandue. Pourtant, un nombre croissant d’observations indique que les individus issus de ces groupes désavantagés s’en détournent après une réussite sociale ou professionnelle. Un...

Past research illustrates that when members of socially disadvantaged groups join a better-valued group through individual achievements (e.g., women become directors, ethnic minority individuals achieve a prestigious occupation), they express lower concern for their disadvantaged ingroup. In the present study, we investigate this effect in a new co...