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Don’t mind her: firm anticipatory impression management strategies when announcing women CEOs

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  • Arthur, Michelle M.
  • Marchiondo, Lisa A.
  • Cook, Alison

Abstract

Thisstudy integrates anticipatory impression management (AIM) and role congruity theory to investigate whether the strategic timing and characteristics of firm-initiated press releases differ for incoming CEOs based on gender, thereby expanding the taxonomy of AIM tactics. This theoretical bridge underpins our hypotheses regarding firms’ greater use of (a) closed-market timing,(b) temporal distancing, and (c) extraneous information when announcing women versus men as CEOs.We posit that these AIM tactics lower investor attention to announcements, ultimately attenuating their stereotype reliance and negativeshare pricereactionsto appointments of women CEOs.Using a sample of CEOs from Fortune 1000 companies between 1972–2020, our findings demonstrate that the identified AIM tactics are more prevalent when firms announce women versus men as CEOs. Further, we find that incoming women CEOs benefit, in terms of share price reactions, when their announcements are made when the market is closed, with greater temporal distance from their start dates (for longer cumulative abnormal return windows), and when extraneous quotes are included.

Suggested Citation

  • Arthur, Michelle M. & Marchiondo, Lisa A. & Cook, Alison, 2026. "Don’t mind her: firm anticipatory impression management strategies when announcing women CEOs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:206:y:2026:i:c:s0148296325007684
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115945
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