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  5. Barriers to a Diverse Workplace
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Barriers to a Diverse Workplace

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022 12:15 PM - 2:15 PM (EST)

Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Andrea Weber, Central European University

The Broken Rung: Gender and the Leadership Gap

Ingrid Haegele
,
University of California-Berkeley

Abstract

Women are vastly underrepresented in leadership positions, but little is known about when and why gender gaps in representation first emerge in the leadership hierarchy. This study uses novel personnel data from a large manufacturing firm to document that gender differences in applications for first-level leadership positions create a key bottleneck in women's career progression. Women are not less likely to learn about job openings at the firm and do not experience lower hiring likelihoods than male applicants. Instead, gender differences in revealed preferences for leading a team account for women's lower propensities to apply for first-level leadership positions. Women who rise to the first leadership level are not less likely than men to apply to or to receive subsequent promotions, rejecting the common notion that a glass ceiling at higher-level leadership positions is the key barrier to gender equality.

Asymmetric Peer Effects: How White Peers Shape Black Turnover

Nina Roussille
,
London School of Economics
Elizabeth Linos
,
University of California-Berkeley
Sanaz Mobasseri
,
Boston University

Abstract

This study examines how working with white co-workers affects turnover rates for black employees in a large professional services firm. Black employees are 10 percentage points more likely to turnover within two years relative to similar white employees in the same office, whose average turnover rate is 21%. Drawing on conditional random assignment to their initial project for over 9,000 newly hired employees in the U.S., we find that a one standard deviation (20%) decrease in the percentage of white co-workers in the initial project decreases turnover for black women (but not black men, other non-white, or white employees) by 10 percentage points. We further collect performance review and talent surveys of employees to understand the mechanism behind this result. Early results suggest that when black women are assigned to initial projects with more white co-workers, they are less satisfied at work and receive more negative performance evaluations: evaluators are more likely to identify them as “at risk of low performance” and are less willing to “always want the [given employee] on their team.”. We are currently collecting information on network formation and promotion at the firm to understand how the initial project assignment impacts career evolution at the firm.

Homophily by Gender in Advice Seeking

Melanie Wasserman
,
University of California-Los Angeles
Yana Gallen
,
University of Chicago

Abstract

This paper investigates homophily by gender in advice seeking. Using administrative data from an online college student mentoring platform, we document that female students are 28 percent more likely to reach out to female mentors relative to male students, conditional on various observable characteristics. Despite this sorting, female mentors respond less frequently and give shorter responses than male mentors, calling into question whether the benefits of homophily outweigh its costs. We estimate college students’ preferences for mentor characteristics using a hypothetical choice preference elicitation in a setting that incentivizes truthful responses. The preferences from this survey confirm that female students are willing to sacrifice mentor quality and availability in order to access a female mentor. Furthermore, we find that most female students do not derive gender-specific benefits from female mentors. Instead, female students statistically discriminate when selecting mentors, using mentor gender as a proxy for other desirable mentor characteristics.

Discussant(s)
Andrea Weber
,
Central European University
Christine L. Exley
,
Harvard Business School
Corinne Low
,
University of Pennsylvania
JEL Classifications
  • J1 - Demographic Economics
  • J7 - Labor Discrimination