She has a chance
Is There an Implicit Quota on Women in Top Management? A Large-Sample Statistical Analysis
Cristian Dezső, David Gaddis Ross & Jose Uribe
Strategic Management Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although extant research suggests that the presence of women in top management could be self-reinforcing, we propose an alternative theory: that women in top management face an implicit quota, whereby a firm's leadership makes an effort to have a small number of women on the top management team but makes less effort to have, or even resists having, larger numbers of women. As a result, the presence of a woman on a top management team reduces the likelihood that another woman occupies a position on that team. Using twenty years of data on the S&P 1,500 firms and a novel econometric design that compares simulated populations of top managers with the actual population, we find strong evidence in support of our theory.
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Beauty and the feast: Examining the effect of beauty on earnings using restaurant tipping data
Matt Parrett
Journal of Economic Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper looks at the effect of beauty on earnings using restaurant tipping data. Customers were surveyed as they left a set of five Virginia restaurants about the dining experience, their server, and themselves, including about their tip and their server's beauty and productivity. I find that attractive servers earn approximately $1,261 more per year in tips than unattractive servers, the primary driver of which is female customers tipping attractive females more than unattractive females. Potential explanations of this earnings gap are drawn from both the labor and experimental economics literatures, the most compelling of which is customer taste-based discrimination.
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Million Dollar Maybe? The Effect of Female Presence in Movies on Box Office Returns
Andrew Lindner, Melissa Lindquist & Julie Arnold
Sociological Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examines processes that contribute to the underrepresentation of women in film by linking the depiction of gender in film to its impact on domestic box office returns. Drawing on a sample of widely distributed movies from 2000 to 2009 (n = 974), we test whether the box office under-performance of films with an independent female presence results primarily from "downstream" public rejection or from an gendered "upstream" division of resources that provides greater studio support to movies about men. Using a series of multivariate regression analyses and controlling for genre, critical appraisal, arthouse label, being a sequel, and including a popular star, films with a female presence earn less at the box office. This effect, however, appears to be largely the consequence of movies that feature women having smaller production budgets, suggesting that the underrepresentation of women in film stems from "upstream" routines of film industry gatekeepers, not a lesser interest in stories about women in the minds of the public.
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Robert Deaner et al.
PeerJ, April 2015
Abstract:
Sex differences in some preferences and motivations are well established, but it is unclear whether they persist in selective sub-populations, such as expert financial decision makers, top scientists, or elite athletes. We addressed this issue by studying competitiveness in 1,147 varsity intercollegiate distance runners. As expected, across all runners, men reported greater competitiveness with two previously validated instruments, greater competitiveness on a new elite competitiveness scale, and greater training volume, a known correlate of competitiveness. Among faster runners, the sex difference decreased for one measure of competitiveness but did not decrease for the two other competitiveness measures or either measure of training volume. Across NCAA athletic divisions (DI, DII, DIII), the sex difference did not decrease for any competitiveness or training measure. Further analyses showed that these sex differences could not be attributed to women suffering more injuries or facing greater childcare responsibilities. However, women did report greater commitment than men to their academic studies, suggesting a sex difference in priorities. Therefore, policies aiming to provide men and women with equal opportunities to flourish should acknowledge that sex differences in some kinds of preferences and motivation may persist even in selective sub-populations.
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Sunyoung Lee et al.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, May 2015, Pages 15-28
Abstract:
We propose and test a theory explaining how and why decision makers engage in attractiveness discrimination in selection decisions. We integrate status generalization with interdependence theories and contextualize attractiveness discrimination within interdependent relationships among decision makers and candidates. Drawing on status generalization theory, we propose that decision makers associate attractiveness with competence in male but not in female candidates. We then draw on interdependence theory to propose that cooperative and competitive interdependence result in opposing patterns of attractiveness discrimination. When decision makers expect to cooperate with the candidate, they perceive attractive male candidates as more capable cooperators and discriminate in their favor. When decision makers expect to compete with the candidate, they perceive attractive male candidates as more capable competitors, and discriminate against them. Four studies, using different samples, selection tasks, manipulations of candidate attractiveness, and manipulations of interdependence, found evidence consistent with the theory.
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Women are underrepresented in fields where success is believed to require brilliance
Meredith Meyer, Andrei Cimpian & Sarah-Jane Leslie
Frontiers in Psychology, March 2015
Abstract:
Women's underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a prominent concern in our society and many others. Closer inspection of this phenomenon reveals a more nuanced picture, however, with women achieving parity with men at the Ph.D. level in certain STEM fields, while also being underrepresented in some non-STEM fields. It is important to consider and provide an account of this field-by-field variability. The field-specific ability beliefs (FAB) hypothesis aims to provide such an account, proposing that women are likely to be underrepresented in fields thought to require raw intellectual talent-a sort of talent that women are stereotyped to possess less of than men. In two studies, we provide evidence for the FAB hypothesis, demonstrating that the academic fields believed by laypeople to require brilliance are also the fields with lower female representation. We also found that the FABs of participants with college-level exposure to a field were more predictive of its female representation than those of participants without college exposure, presumably because the former beliefs mirror more closely those of the field's practitioners (the direct "gatekeepers"). Moreover, the FABs of participants with college exposure to a field predicted the magnitude of the field's gender gap above and beyond their beliefs about the level of mathematical and verbal skills required. Finally, we found that beliefs about the importance of brilliance to success in a field may predict its female representation in part by fostering the impression that the field demands solitary work and competition with others. These results suggest new solutions for enhancing diversity within STEM and across the academic spectrum.
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The paradox of progress: The emergence of wage discrimination in US manufacturing
Joyce Burnette
European Review of Economic History, May 2015, Pages 128-148
Abstract:
This article tests for wage discrimination in US manufacturing during the nineteenth century and in 2002 by estimating the female-to-male productivity ratio and comparing it to the wage ratio. This method will not identify all forms of discrimination, but will determine whether women were paid wages commensurate with their productivity. There was no significant difference between the wage ratio and the productivity ratio in the nineteenth century, but in 1900 there is evidence of gender discrimination among white-collar workers. In 2002 the female-to-male productivity ratio was higher than in the nineteenth century, and the wage ratio was also higher, but the wage ratio was significantly lower than the productivity ratio, at least for workers older than thirty-five. The movement from the spot labor markets of the nineteenth century to the internal labor markets has allowed for the emergence of gender wage discrimination.
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Gender Profiling: A Gendered Race Perspective on Person-Position Fit
Erika Hall, Adam Galinsky & Katherine Phillips
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
The current research integrates perspectives on gendered race and person-position fit to introduce the concept of a gender profile. We propose that both the "gender" of a person's biological sex and the "gender" of a person's race (Asians are perceived as feminine and Blacks as masculine) help comprise an individual's gender profile - the overall femininity or masculinity associated with their demographic characteristics. We also propose that occupational positions have gender profiles. Finally, we argue that the overall gender profile of one's demographics, rather than just one's biological sex, determines one's fit and hirability for feminine or masculine occupational roles. The current five studies establish the gender profiles of different races and sexes, and then demonstrate that individuals with feminine-typed and masculine-typed gender profiles are selected for feminine and masculine positions, respectively. These studies provide new insights on who gets ahead in different environments.
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National hiring experiments reveal 2:1 faculty preference for women on STEM tenure track
Wendy Williams & Stephen Ceci
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 28 April 2015, Pages 5360-5365
Abstract:
National randomized experiments and validation studies were conducted on 873 tenure-track faculty (439 male, 434 female) from biology, engineering, economics, and psychology at 371 universities/colleges from 50 US states and the District of Columbia. In the main experiment, 363 faculty members evaluated narrative summaries describing hypothetical female and male applicants for tenure-track assistant professorships who shared the same lifestyle (e.g., single without children, married with children). Applicants' profiles were systematically varied to disguise identically rated scholarship; profiles were counterbalanced by gender across faculty to enable between-faculty comparisons of hiring preferences for identically qualified women versus men. Results revealed a 2:1 preference for women by faculty of both genders across both math-intensive and non-math-intensive fields, with the single exception of male economists, who showed no gender preference. Results were replicated using weighted analyses to control for national sample characteristics. In follow-up experiments, 144 faculty evaluated competing applicants with differing lifestyles (e.g., divorced mother vs. married father), and 204 faculty compared same-gender candidates with children, but differing in whether they took 1-y-parental leaves in graduate school. Women preferred divorced mothers to married fathers; men preferred mothers who took leaves to mothers who did not. In two validation studies, 35 engineering faculty provided rankings using full curricula vitae instead of narratives, and 127 faculty rated one applicant rather than choosing from a mixed-gender group; the same preference for women was shown by faculty of both genders. These results suggest it is a propitious time for women launching careers in academic science. Messages to the contrary may discourage women from applying for STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) tenure-track assistant professorships.
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Friendship at Work: Can Peer Effects Catalyze Female Entrepreneurship?
Erica Field et al.
NBER Working Paper, April 2015
Abstract:
Does the lack of peers contribute to the observed gender gap in entrepreneurial success, and is the constraint stronger for women facing more restrictive social norms? We offered two days of business counseling to a random sample of customers of India's largest women's bank. A random subsample was invited to attend with a friend. The intervention had a significant immediate impact on participants' business activity, but only if they were trained in the presence of a friend. Four months later, those trained with a friend were more likely to have taken out business loans, were less likely to be housewives, and reported increased business activity and higher household income. The positive impacts of training with a friend were stronger among women from religious or caste groups with social norms that restrict female mobility.
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Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, Jennifer Mueller & David Lebel
Leadership Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study draws on research derived from role congruity theory (RCT) and the status incongruity hypothesis (SIH) to test the prediction that male leaders who seek help will be evaluated as less competent than male leaders who do not seek help. In a field setting, Study 1 showed that seeking help was negatively related to perceived competence for male (but not female) leaders. In an experimental setting, Study 2 showed that this effect was not moderated by leadership style (Study 2a) or a gender-specific context (Study 2b). Study 2b further showed that the cognitive tenets of RCT rather than the motivational view espoused by the SIH explained our findings. Specifically, leader typicality (perceptions of help seeking as an atypical behavior for male leaders; the RCT view), and not leader weakness (a proscribed behavior for male leaders; the SIH view), mediated our predicted moderation.
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Hyang-gi Song et al.
Computers in Human Behavior, September 2015, Pages 274-282
Abstract:
It has been argued that the generally positive effect that female participation exerts on team performance ceases to exist under conditions of anonymity. We evaluate this thesis in the context of an online learning environment in which the gender of fellow student team members was not disclosed to subjects. To circumvent selection effects in the composition of teams we employed an experimental design in which female and male students were randomly assigned to teams of varying gender composition. Against expectations, we find that under anonymity gender composition continues to impact team performance, with all-female teams being most productive. Counter-intuitively, this team effect occurred in our study without female students individually being more productive than their male counterparts. These findings indicate that the presence of females on anonymous teams can have a hidden effect on the productivity of other team members. Our results underscore that despite face-to-face interaction in higher education increasingly being substituted by Internet-enabled communication, a student's social environment continues to impact academic learning in important ways.
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High School Grades, Admissions Policies, and the Gender Gap in College Enrollment
Dylan Conger
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
The female advantage in college enrollment and completion has generated concern among university officials and sparked debate about gender-conscious college admissions. There are a number of explanations for this increasing gender imbalance on college campuses. This paper focuses on the role played by admissions policies that base decisions solely on applicants' high school grades. Given that females earn higher grades than males, such policies can contribute to growing female shares in admissions. To exemplify this trend, I use publicly-available data from Texas to show that the Texas Top 10 percent plan, which guarantees public university admission to students who graduate in the top decile of their high school class, led to a an increase in the female share of accepted students. The increase was particularly large among black students, where the female share of admitted students was already highest among the major racial/ethnic groups.
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Nilanjana Dasgupta, Melissa McManus Scircle & Matthew Hunsinger
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 21 April 2015, Pages 4988-4993
Abstract:
For years, public discourse in science education, technology, and policy-making has focused on the "leaky pipeline" problem: the observation that fewer women than men enter science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and more women than men leave. Less attention has focused on experimentally testing solutions to this problem. We report an experiment investigating one solution: we created "microenvironments" (small groups) in engineering with varying proportions of women to identify which environment increases motivation and participation, and whether outcomes depend on students' academic stage. Female engineering students were randomly assigned to one of three engineering groups of varying sex composition: 75% women, 50% women, or 25% women. For first-years, group composition had a large effect: women in female-majority and sex-parity groups felt less anxious than women in female-minority groups. However, among advanced students, sex composition had no effect on anxiety. Importantly, group composition significantly affected verbal participation, regardless of women's academic seniority: women participated more in female-majority groups than sex-parity or female-minority groups. Additionally, when assigned to female-minority groups, women who harbored implicit masculine stereotypes about engineering reported less confidence and engineering career aspirations. However, in sex-parity and female-majority groups, confidence and career aspirations remained high regardless of implicit stereotypes. These data suggest that creating small groups with high proportions of women in otherwise male-dominated fields is one way to keep women engaged and aspiring toward engineering careers. Although sex parity works sometimes, it is insufficient to boost women's verbal participation in group work, which often affects learning and mastery.
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Raina Brands, Jochen Menges & Martin Kilduff
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Charisma is crucially important for a range of leadership outcomes. Charisma is also in the eye of the beholder - an attribute perceived by followers. Traditional leadership theory has tended to assume charismatic attributions flow to men rather than women. We challenge this assumption of an inevitable charismatic bias toward men leaders. We propose that gender-biased attributions about the charismatic leadership of men and women are facilitated by the operation of a leader-in-social-network schema. Attributions of charismatic leadership depend on the match between the gender of the leader and the perceived structure of the network. In three studies encompassing both experimental and survey data, we show that when team advice networks are perceived to be centralized around one or a few individuals, women leaders are seen as less charismatic than men leaders. However, when networks are perceived to be cohesive (many connections among individuals), it is men who suffer a charismatic leadership disadvantage relative to women. Perceptions of leadership depend not only on whether the leader is a man or a woman but also on the social network context in which the leader is embedded.
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Biology and Selection Into Entrepreneurship - The Relevance of Prenatal Testosterone Exposure
Werner Bönte, Vivien Procher & Diemo Urbig
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examines the relationship between prenatal testosterone exposure (PTE) and selection into entrepreneurship. We argue that the relationship between PTE and entrepreneurial intent is positive and mediated by general and domain-specific risk-taking related to financial investment and professional career. Using the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) as noninvasive retrospective marker for PTE, we identify two-step mediation effects of PTE on entrepreneurial intent through both general and domain-specific risk-taking. To account for possible socialization-based effects, we control for gender and parental self-employment. Applying ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses and structural equation models, we provide empirical evidence for a biological association between 2D:4D and entrepreneurial intent.
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Salary Differences Between Male and Female Registered Nurses in the United States
Ulrike Muench et al.
Journal of the American Medical Association, 24/31 March 2015, Pages 1265-1267
"Male RNs outearned female RNs across settings, specialties, and positions with no narrowing of the pay gap over time. About half of the gap was accounted for by employment and other measured characteristics. This gap is similar in magnitude to the salary differences found for physicians."
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For Love or Money? Gender Differences in How One Approaches Getting a Job
Weiyi Ng & Ming Leung
University of California Working Paper, March 2015
Abstract:
Extant supply-side labor market theories conclude that women and men apply to different jobs but are unable to explain differences in how they may behave when applying to the same job. We correct this discrepancy by considering gendered approaches to the hiring process. We propose that applicants can emphasize either the relational or the transactional aspects of the job and that this affects getting hired. Relational job seekers focus on developing a social connection with their employer. Transactional job seekers focus on quantitative and pecuniary aspects of the job. We expect women to be more relational and men to be more transactional and that this contributes to differences in hiring outcomes. Being relational suggests that one is more committed to the job and therefore should increases the chances of being hired. We examine behaviors in an online contract labor market for graphic designers, Elance.com where we find that women are more likely to be hired than men by about 5.2%. Quantitative linguistic analysis on the unstructured text of job proposals reveals that women (men) adopt more relational (transactional) language in their applications. These different approaches affect a job seeker's likelihood of being hired and attenuate the gender gap we identified.
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A University-Wide Field Experiment on Gender Differences in Job Entry Decisions
Anya Samek
University of Wisconsin Working Paper, March 2015
Abstract:
The gender difference in competitiveness has been cited as an important factor driving the gender gap in labor market outcomes. Using a natural field experiment with 35,000 university students, I explore the impact of compensation scheme on willingness to apply for a job. I find that competitive compensation schemes disproportionately deter women from applying, which cannot be explained by differences in risk preferences alone. I also vary whether the job is introduced as helping a non-profit, which increases application rates, suggesting a role for social preferences in application decisions. Finally, I observe a correlation between competitiveness preferences and career choice.
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Should He Chitchat? The Benefits of Small Talk for Male Versus Female Negotiators
Brooke Shaughnessy, Alexandra Mislin & Tanja Hentschel
Basic and Applied Social Psychology, March/April 2015, Pages 105-117
Abstract:
Past research links the use of small talk in negotiations to positive outcomes. We posit that men and women may not benefit equally from small talk. Building on stereotype and environmental certainty theories, we propose contexts when male negotiators who small talk are perceived more favorably. Studies 1a/1b show that men enjoy a social boost from small talk when cues for behavior are not strongly articulated. Study 2 identifies a social boost from small talk to both genders when cues for behavior are clearly articulated, but this boost only translates into better deals for men who small talk. Overall, small talk in negotiations has a stronger, more consistent effect for men.