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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Larissa Fuchs (University of Cologne); Matthias Heinz (University of Cologne); Pia Pinger (University of Cologne); Max Thon (University of Cologne) |
| Abstract: | Job advertisements are a key instrument for companies to attract talent. We conduct a field experiment in which we randomize the content of job advertisements for STEM jobs in one of the largest European technology firms. Specifically, we study how highlighting job flexibility and career advancement in job advertisements causally affects the firm’s pool of applicants. We find large treatment effects of entry-, but not for senior-level positions in the firm: highlighting job flexibility increases the total number of female and male applicants, while emphasizing career advancement only raises applications by men. Both effects are entirely driven by applicants residing outside of the federal state in which the firm is located. In a survey experiment among STEM students, we find that the content of job advertisements shapes young professionals’ beliefs about the work environment at the firm. Most importantly, we find that students expect better career benefits, but lower work-life balance when career advancement are highlighted. Our study highlights how job advertisements affect the total number of applications as well as applicants’ quality, diversity, region of residence and beliefs. |
| Keywords: | beliefs, hiring, field experiments, survey experiment, job advertisements, gender |
| JEL: | M51 M52 D22 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:332 |
| By: | Diehl, Claudia; Lang, Julia; Strauß, Susanne; Brüggemann, Ole |
| Abstract: | This paper examines gender differences in perceptions of the fairness of one's own pay. Theoretically, we draw on two so far separate strands of literature, on women's alleged greater tolerance for lower wages ("contented female worker paradox"), and on perceived discrimination among ethnic minorities ("integration paradox"). Empirically, we depart from previous studies by not simply assessing whether women are as likely as men to perceive their pay as unfair. Instead, we use an innovative methodology based on linked employer-employee data from about 500 German firms. This makes it possible to validate subjective perceptions of (un)fair pay by comparing them to the actual (un)fairness of someone's pay. The latter is measured as the difference between one's own pay and the predicted pay of comparable others with the same individual, job, and firm-related characteristics. Overall, women are as likely as men to perceive a fair wage as unfair - or an unfair wage as fair. However, university-educated women are somewhat less likely than men to perceive their pay as fair when they earn less than comparable employees. They might be more aware of the societal debate about gender discrimination and "aim higher" in setting their aspirations for appropriate rewards for their skills. |
| Keywords: | gender inequality, discrimination, women, income, work |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cexwps:300840 |
| By: | Strauß, Susanne; Brüggemann, Ole Jakob; Lang, Julia |
| Abstract: | Previous research has shown that gender pay gaps are perceived as fair or justified, not only by men but also by women. In this paper we analyse whether this gender bias in the evaluation of fair wages still persists and whether the organizational context has an impact on fairness perceptions. We use unique data from a vignette study that was part of a representative online survey of 5, 556 employees in 532 larger firms (> 100 employees) in Germany which are merged to administrative data. This allows us to consider different contextual factors at both the workgroup level and the firm level. In contrast to older studies we find that women tend to evaluate wages of female workers as unfairly too low. Moreover, the perception of (un)fair wages depends on the organizational context. Female supervisors and collective bargaining agreements in firms increase women's awareness for other women's unfairly too low wages, whereas an exchange about wages with co-workers affects the fairness perceptions of both male and female workers. |
| Keywords: | Gender inequality, wages, fairness, organizational context, Germany |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cexwps:300835 |
| By: | Stephen Yeaple; Carsten Eckel |
| Abstract: | A growing empirical literature attributes much of the productivity advantages of large, "superstar" firms to their adoption of best practice management techniques that allow them to better identify and use talented workers. The reasons for the incomplete adoption of these "structured management practices" (SMPs) and their welfare implications are not well understood. This paper provides a positive and normative analysis of these issues in a theoretical framework in which SMPs induce sorting of talent across firms. Incomplete adoption arises because SMPs are costly and worker talent is in limited supply. In equilibrium there is excessive adoption of SMPs and too much sorting of talented workers into large firms. In this second-best environment, policy changes that favor large firms, such as trade liberalization, have the potential to lower welfare. |
| JEL: | F12 F16 J31 J33 J42 M51 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32797 |
| By: | Francesco Capozza |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates beliefs concerning the gender gap in salary negotiations (GGSN) in a sample of 4, 300 women, 1, 000 men, and 105 HR managers residing in the U.S. The respondents believe in the existence of the GGSN, yet they misperceive its magnitude. Providing respondents with accurate information changes their beliefs about it. However, this does not lead to either an increased demand to join a salary negotiation course or a higher willingness-to-pay to get salary information. The analysis of the competing mental models that women hold reveals that the likely mechanism is the perceived backlash that they may experience from employers if they engage in salary negotiations. Finally, a survey of HR managers suggests that they view negotiating women as facing worse consequences in the workplace than negotiating men. |
| Keywords: | beliefs, mental models, perceived backlash, negotiation, gender |
| JEL: | C93 D83 D91 J16 M52 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11228 |
| By: | Neugart, Michael; Zaharieva, Anna |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies show that women have lower chances of reaching top management positions, known as the glass‐ceiling effect. To study women's careers, we develop a search and matching model where job ladders consist of three hierarchical levels and workers can progress in the career by means of internal promotions or by transitioning to another firm. Both, formal applications and referral hiring via endogenous social networks can be used for moving between firms. We show that when female workers are minority in the labor market and social link formation is gender‐biased (homophilous), there are too few female contacts in the social networks of their male colleagues. This disadvantage implies that female workers are referred less often and, thereby, become underrepresented in top‐level management positions of firms relative to their fraction in the market. Our main theoretical results are consistent with the empirical evidence based on the German Socio‐Economic Panel. |
| Date: | 2024–07–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:149305 |
| By: | Mawdsley, John (HEC Paris); Paolella, Lionel (University of Cambridge- Judge Business School); Durand, Rodolphe (HEC Paris) |
| Abstract: | We offer a rivalry-based perspective of gender diversity as a form of competitive action. We theorize that a firm adjusts its senior-level female representation when they identify business opportunities that may be seized by demonstrating alignment to gender parity expectations. Examining US corporate law firms and potential buyers of their services, we theorize and find that when the buyers of rivals of the focal firm increase their gender diversity, the focal firm responds by increasing its female partner representation. Reinforcing the strategic approach to managing gender diversity, we also show that a focal firm reduces its gender-related response to rivals’ buyers as the opportunity to attract those buyers decreases, and when the focal firm can use racial diversity as a credible substitute for gender diversity. |
| Keywords: | Gender diversity; Competitive positioning; Rivalry; Strategic human capital; Buyer-supplier relationships; Professional service firms |
| JEL: | M14 |
| Date: | 2022–10–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:1460 |