BREAKING BARRIERS: THE IMPACT OF CO-LEADERSHIP ON THE GENDER GAP IN LEADERSHIP PARTICIPATION

Abstract

Efforts to increase female representation in leadership roles have seen limited success, with women still underrepresented in senior positions. Beyond structural barriers, our research highlights a gender gap in the willingness to lead driven by 'responsibility aversion'-the reluctance to assume leadership over teams due to the anticipated psychological costs of being responsible for others' outcomes. To address this, we propose co-leadership, where leadership responsibilities are shared, as a potential solution. We analyze data from three controlled online experiments with around 2,700 participants and observational data from 8,145 US company boards. The findings reveal that women are significantly more willing to take on leadership roles when leadership is shared with a co-leader, as this reduces the experienced psychological costs of leadership. Additionally, co-leadership attracts individuals with lower levels of competitiveness, while showing no significant effect on attracting individuals with different risk attitudes, confidence, or leadership motivation scores. By offering an alternative to traditional leadership structures, co-leadership helps address the gender leadership gap without requiring women to adopt traditionally masculine traits. This institutional solution creates a more inclusive environment that encourages broader participation in leadership for organizations aiming to achieve greater gender balance in senior roles.

Keywords: glass ceiling, diversity, co-leadership, experiment, gender, leadership

JEL Classification: C72, C91, C92, D79