She deserves it
One Step Forward, One Step Back: White Male Top Manager Organizational Identification and Helping Behavior Toward Other Executives Following the Appointment of a Female or Racial Minority CEO
Michael McDonald, Gareth Keeves & James Westphal
Academy of Management Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
In this paper we examine white male managers' intrapsychic and behavioral responses to the appointment of a female or a racial minority CEO at their firm. Drawing from intergroup relations literatures we theorize how and why the appointment of a minority-status CEO is likely to impact the amount of help that white male top managers provide to their fellow executives. We first explain how white male managers' negatively-biased perceptions of racial minority and female CEOs lead them to experience a diminished sense of organizational identification following the appointment of a minority-status CEO. We then examine how this diminished sense of organizational identification is likely to reduce white male managers' general propensities to provide help to other executives at the firm. We finally consider how reduced identification might have especially strong negative implications for the amount of help that white male managers provide to colleagues who are racial minorities or women. Our results consistently support our theoretical expectations that, following the appointment of a female or racial minority CEO, white male top managers tend to experience a diminished sense of organizational identification, and in turn provide less help to colleagues, with this reduction particularly pronounced for help provided to minority-status colleagues.
Managers’ Political Beliefs and Gender Inequality among Subordinates: Does His Ideology Matter More Than Hers?
Seth Carnahan & Brad Greenwood
Administrative Science Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
To explore whether managers’ beliefs and attitudes influence gender inequality among their subordinates, we theorize about the relationship between managers’ political ideology, situated on a liberal–conservative continuum, and differences in the hiring, work team selection, and promotion of male versus female subordinates, as well as how a manager’s gender moderates this relationship. We analyze novel microdata from the U.S. legal industry from 2007 to 2012 and find that large law offices whose partners are more liberal hire a larger percentage of female associates, that more-liberal partners are more likely to select female associates to be members of their client teams, and that associates whose supervising partners are more liberal have greater gender parity in promotion rates. Further, we find that the ideology of male partners is significantly more influential than the ideology of female partners in affecting these differences. We find little evidence that sorting on the part of higher-quality female associates drives the results.
We Ask Men to Win & Women Not to Lose: Closing the Gender Gap in Startup Funding
Dana Kanze et al.
Academy of Management Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Male entrepreneurs are known to raise higher levels of funding than their female counterparts, but the underlying mechanism for this funding disparity remains contested. Drawing upon Regulatory Focus Theory, we propose that the gap originates with a gender bias in the questions that investors pose to entrepreneurs. A field study conducted on question and answer interactions at TechCrunch Disrupt New York City during 2010 through 2016 reveals that investors tend to ask male entrepreneurs promotion-focused questions and female entrepreneurs prevention-focused questions, and that entrepreneurs tend to respond with matching regulatory focus. This distinction in the regulatory focus of investor questions and entrepreneur responses results in divergent funding outcomes for entrepreneurs whereby those asked promotion-focused questions raise significantly higher amounts of funding than those asked prevention-focused questions. We demonstrate that every additional prevention-focused question significantly hinders the entrepreneur's ability to raise capital, fully mediating gender's effect on funding. By experimentally testing an intervention, we find that entrepreneurs can significantly increase funding for their startups when responding to prevention-focused questions with promotion-focused answers. As we offer evidence regarding tactics that can be employed to diminish the gender disadvantage in funding outcomes, this study has practical as well as theoretical implications for entrepreneurship.
Single dose testosterone administration impairs cognitive reflection in men
Gideon Nave et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The sex steroid testosterone regulates reproductive behaviors such as intra-male fighting and mating in non-humans. Correlational studies have linked testosterone with aggression and disorders associated with poor impulse control, but the neuropsychological processes at work are poorly understood. Building on a dual-process framework, we propose a mechanism underlying testosterone’s behavioral effects in humans: reducing cognitive reflection. In the largest behavioral testosterone administration study to date, 243 men received either testosterone or placebo and took the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), that estimated their capacity to override incorrect intuitive judgments with deliberate correct responses. Testosterone administration reduced CRT scores. The effect was robust to controlling for age, mood, math skills, treatment expectancy and 14 other hormones, and held for each of the CRT questions in isolation. Our findings suggest a mechanism underlying testosterone’s diverse effects on humans’ judgments and decision-making, and provide novel, clear and testable predictions.
Sex differences in brain size and general intelligence (g)
Dimitri van der Linden, Curtis Dunkel & Guy Madison
Intelligence, forthcoming
Abstract:
Utilizing MRI and cognitive tests data from the Human Connectome project (N = 900), sex differences in general intelligence (g) and molar brain characteristics were examined. Total brain volume, cortical surface area, and white and gray matter correlated 0.1–0.3 with g for both sexes, whereas cortical thickness and gray/white matter ratio showed less consistent associations with g. Males displayed higher scores on most of the brain characteristics, even after correcting for body size, and also scored approximately one fourth of a standard deviation higher on g. Mediation analyses and the Method of Correlated Vectors both indicated that the sex difference in g is mediated by general brain characteristics. Selecting a subsample of males and females who were matched on g further suggest that larger brains, on average, lead to higher g, whereas similar levels of g do not necessarily imply equal brain sizes.
The Dynamics of Gender Earnings Differentials: Evidence from Establishment Data
Erling Barth, Sari Pekkala Kerr & Claudia Olivetti
NBER Working Paper, May 2017
Abstract:
We use a unique match between the 2000 Decennial Census of the United States and the Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics (LEHD) data to analyze how much of the increase in the gender earnings gap over the lifecycle comes from shifts in the sorting of men and women across high- and low-pay establishments and how much is due to differential earnings growth within establishments. We find that for the college educated the increase is substantial and, for the most part, due to differential earnings growth within establishment by gender. The between component is also important. Differential mobility between establishments by gender can explain 27 percent of the widening of the pay gap for this group. For those with no college, the relatively small increase of the gender gap over the lifecycle can be fully explained by differential moves by gender across establishments. The evidence suggests that, for both education groups, the between-establishment component of the increasing wage gap is due almost entirely to those who are married.
On the Size of the Gender Difference in Competitiveness
Silvia Saccardo, Aniela Pietrasz & Uri Gneezy
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We design a new procedure for measuring competitiveness and use it to estimate the magnitude of the gender gap in competitiveness. Before working on a task, participants choose what percentage of their payoffs will be based on a piece-rate compensation scheme; the rest of their payoff is allocated to a competitive compensation scheme. This novel procedure allows us to distinguish between 101 levels of competitiveness, as opposed to the binary measure used in the literature. Whereas the binary measure allows researchers to conclude that about twice as many men as women choose to compete (typically two-thirds versus one-third), the new procedure sheds light on the intensive margin. We find that the intensity of the preference is more extreme than the binary measure could detect. For example, we find that only one-fifth of the most competitive 25% of our participants are women, and the most competitive 10% of our participants are all men. The new procedure also allows us to study the correlation between competitiveness and parameters such as overconfidence, attitudes toward risk, and ambiguity.
Activist Choice Homophily and the Crowdfunding of Female Founders
Jason Greenberg & Ethan Mollick
Administrative Science Quarterly, June 2017, Pages 341-374
Abstract:
In this paper, we examine when members of underrepresented groups choose to support each other, using the context of the funding of female founders via donation-based crowdfunding. Building on theories of choice homophily, we develop the concept of activist choice homophily, in which the basis of attraction between two individuals is not merely similarity between them, but rather perceptions of shared structural barriers stemming from a common social identity based on group membership. We differentiate activist choice homophily from homophily based on the similarity between individuals (“interpersonal choice homophily”), as well as from “induced homophily,” which reflects the likelihood that those in a particular social category will affiliate and form networks. Using lab experiments and field data, we show that activist choice homophily provides an explanation for why women are more likely to succeed at crowdfunding than men and why women are most successful in industries in which they are least represented.
Examining the Relationship Between Athletic Program Expenditure and Athletic Program Success Among NCAA Division I Institutions: A Dynamic Panel Data Approach
Laura Beaudin
Journal of Sports Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examines the impact of athletic expenditure on athletic performance among National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I institutions. A series of dynamic panel data models are estimated to explore differential impacts of expenditure throughout athletic programs. Results suggest that a dollar spent on women’s sport programs may be more effective than a dollar spent on men’s sport programs. Analysis is conducted at the aggregate, relative division, relative conference, and individual sport levels. Together, all analysis suggests that alternative distributions of athletic, financial resources could increase an institution’s athletic success.
Queen Bees and Alpha Males: Are successful women more competitive than successful men
Klea Faniko, Naomi Ellemers & Belle Derks
European Journal of Social Psychology, December 2016, Pages 903–913
Abstract:
Two studies carried out in Switzerland examined different explanations for the “Queen Bee (QB)-phenomenon.” In Study 1 (N = 315), female managers (vs. subordinates) identified with successful women and supported measures that would benefit these women — even though they are their direct competitors. However, they were disinclined to identify with women who put their family first, viewed themselves as different (more masculine) than junior women, and were reluctant to endorse measures to support them. Study 2 (N = 277) compared QB-responses of women to Alpha Male (AM) responses of men. We found evidence of QB and AM effects: both female and male managers rated their own masculinity as higher than that of same-gender junior colleagues. Compared to their male colleagues, women in managerial positions were more inclined to identify with successful same-gender colleagues. This counters explanations for the QB effect as being due to increased competitiveness of successful women.
Think manager — think male, think follower — think female: Gender bias in implicit followership theories
Stephan Braun et al.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Because of the overlap between the social roles of women and followers, we predicted that people would show a bias, that is, favor female followers over male followers. To support this hypothesis, we conducted two studies: An explicit test of the bias using a scenario design and an implicit association test (IAT)-based study. Both studies show that the role of an ideal follower is more strongly associated with the female gender role, which seems to be caused partly by a more communal connotation of the follower role. This effect might contribute to the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions as they are perceived to be an ideal fit for followership positions; but it may also push men away from being followers and into leadership positions.
Gender differences and bias in open source: Pull request acceptance of women versus men
Josh Terrell et al.
PeerJ Computer Science, May 2017
Abstract:
Biases against women in the workplace have been documented in a variety of studies. This paper presents a large scale study on gender bias, where we compare acceptance rates of contributions from men versus women in an open source software community. Surprisingly, our results show that women’s contributions tend to be accepted more often than men’s. However, for contributors who are outsiders to a project and their gender is identifiable, men’s acceptance rates are higher. Our results suggest that although women on GitHub may be more competent overall, bias against them exists nonetheless.
Leveraging communal experiences in the curriculum: Increasing interest in pursuing engineering by changing stereotypic expectations
Aimee Belanger, Amanda Diekman & Mia Steinberg
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The goal congruity perspective suggests that students may not enter engineering, in part, because they believe engineering is unlikely to fulfill communal, other-oriented goals. Increasing beliefs that engineering fulfills communal goals can increase engineering interest. We examine how actual and expected communal experiences in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) shape engineering interest. Study 1 demonstrates that past communal STEM experiences predict greater beliefs that engineering fulfills communal goals and positive engineering attitudes. Using experimental methods, studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that including a service-learning project in an engineering course description increases beliefs that the course fulfills communal goals and course interest. These findings suggest that communal STEM experiences, and service learning in particular, can increase interest and participation in engineering.
The [Human Resource Management] Revolution Will Not Be Televised: The Rise and Feminization of Human Resource Management and Labor Force Equity
William Scarborough
Social Currents, forthcoming
Abstract:
Since the late 1970s, the profession of human resource management has grown in both size and influence. The number of human resource managers in 2010 is almost twice the number that existed in 1980. Furthermore, this profession has become increasingly feminized since the 1970s — today, around 60 percent of human resource managers are women. While previous research has found that women’s presence in certain occupations can improve gender equity, there has yet to be an examination of whether the increased representation of women in human resource management has affected gender equity more broadly. In this article, I analyze data from the U.S. Census from 1980 to 2000 and from the American Community Survey for 2010 to explore whether the rise and feminization of human resources has affected women’s representation in management. The findings reveal that the increased presence of both white and black women in human resources has been accompanied by greater representation of women in management, although the effects are much larger for white women’s presence in human resources.
Effects of Gender on Costly Punishment
Laura Mieth, Axel Buchner & Raoul Bell
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, forthcoming
Abstract:
Women are often believed to be more cooperative and less egoistic than men. In the present study, we examined whether people punish women for failing to live up to these benevolent gender stereotypes. Participants played a prisoner's dilemma game with female and male partners who either cooperated or defected. Participants were offered a costly punishment option. They could spend money to decrease the payment of their partners. In Experiment 1, participants spent more money to punish the defection of female in comparison to male partners, but this effect of partner gender on punishment was indirect rather than direct: Participants were more likely to cooperate with female partners than with male partners, which gave them more opportunity for moralistic punishment. In Experiments 2 and 3, we examined the effects of the participants' own gender on cooperation and punishment of female and male partners. Female participants cooperated more with female partners than with male partners while male participants treated female and male partners equally. We conclude that the effect of facial gender on punishment are indirect rather than direct. The results also showed that women, in contrast to men, tended to make decisions that can be considered more social and less rational from an economic point of view, consistent with social-role theory and evolutionary accounts.