Career Progression – Glass Ceiling
Paper Session
Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021 12:15 PM - 2:15 PM (EST)
- Chair: Lise Vesterlund, University of Pittsburgh
Hidden Talents: Managers, Applications, and the Gender Gap
Abstract
Within-firm job transitions are central to career progression and firms' talent allocation.However, managerial incentives to hide talented workers in their teams are
likely suppressing workers' career progression. To test for the impacts of talent hiding,
I use the universe of application and hiring decisions at a large manufacturing firm and
exploit quasi-experimental variation in workers' exposure to manager rotation, which
temporarily eliminates managers' influence on workers. Manager rotation more than
doubles workers’ applications for promotions, suggesting that managers deter a large
group of workers from applying. I provide direct evidence that this impact is driven
by talent hiding, and rule out alternative explanations such as worker loyalty or match
effects. Talent hiding is more consequential for women’s careers, leading higher ability
women to forgo higher stakes applications compared to men. My results suggest that
eliminating talent hiding would almost fully closes the gender gap in career progression
and reduce the gender pay gap by 77% for marginal applicants.
Follow my Lead: Assertive Cheap Talk and the Gender Gap
Abstract
A person's success often depends on whether others believe what they say. Growing evidence suggests that people are less likely to believe statements made by women rather than by men. We consider whether assertive cheap talk, an important and widely used tool for increasing credibility, is a mechanism for this gender gap. If women face negative returns to assertive cheap talk, then they have less access than men to an effective tool for increasing their credibility. We provide evidence using a laboratory experiment and an online replication, both with real stakes, in an advice-following setting. We study whether subjects discriminate based on advisor gender, whether assertive cheap talk affects advice following, and whether assertive cheap talk has differential effects by gender. Subjects were randomly assigned to a male or female team leader who otherwise appeared identical to subjects. Subjects were also randomly assigned to varying levels of assertive written communication from their leader. We find no evidence for gender discrimination, but more assertive language significantly increased advice following. We also find that assertive language had positive effects for both male and female leaders, despite subjects perceiving this language as more masculine. However, female subjects were less likely to choose to use more assertive language. Thus, even in the absence of discrimination, this choice would reduce adherence to advice provided by women, generating a gender gap. Greater use of assertive language could be an effective strategy for women to increase their influence and credibility in the labor marketStrength in Numbers: A Field Experiment in Gender, Influence, and Group Dynamics
Abstract
Recent work on cross-gender work teams suggests that women are distinctly disadvantaged on a number of dimensions. In this paper, we examine whether the gender composition of a work team shapes these dynamics. Specifically, are token women at more of a disadvantage than women in majority women groups? We conducted a multi-year field experiment with a top-10 undergraduate accounting program that randomized the gender composition of semester-long teams. Using laboratory, survey, and administrative data, we find that women who are randomly assigned to be the lone women on a team are seen as less influential by their peers and are less likely to be chosen to represent the group as a spokesperson than women on majority-women teams. They also participate slightly less in group discussions, and they receive fewer returns to participation when they do. Further, we find that unlike their male colleagues, token women get negative returns to influence for performing better on the laboratory task. We do not find average treatment effects on longer-term academic and professional outcomes, but we do find different predictors of future grades for token women than other participants. Overall, our findings have significant implications for how to approach team assignment, especially in male-dominated settings and cast significant doubt on the idea that token women can solve influence gaps by “leaning in.”Discussant(s)
Marianne Bertrand
,
University of Chicago
Lori A. Beaman
,
Northwestern University
Lise Vesterlund
,
University of Pittsburgh
Yan Chen
,
University of Michigan
JEL Classifications
- J1 - Demographic Economics
- J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs