Congruence Between Leadership Gender and Organizational Claims Affects the Gender Composition of the Applicant Pool: Field Experimental Evidence

Abstract

The extent to which men and women sort into different jobs and organizations—namely, gender differences in supply-side labor market processes—is a key determinant of workplace gender composition. This study draws on theories of congruence to uncover a unique organization-level driver of gender differences in job seekers’ behavior. We first argue and show that congruence between leadership gender and organizational claims is a key mechanism that drives job seekers’ interest. Specifically, many organizational claims are gender-typed, such that social claims activate the female stereotype, whereas business claims activate the male stereotype. Thus, whereas female-led organizations making social claims are gender-congruent, male-led firms making the same claims are gender-incongruent. Beyond demonstrating a general preference among job seekers for congruence, we also find that female job seekers are most interested in working for organizations that are simultaneously congruent and provide credible signals that they are fair and equitable employers. The congruence of leadership gender and organizational claims thus affects the gender composition of applicant pools for otherwise identical jobs.

Gender and Racial Discrimination in Hiring Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a Field Experiment of Accountants, 2018–2020

“…Whether through resume information signaling or employers’ desire to replace exiting employees with similar others, we suggest that labor supply matters for employers’ gender and racial preferences. As such, we build on research that demonstrates how demand-side characteristics shape supply ( Abraham & Burbano, 2021 ; Brands & Fernandez-Mateo, 2017 ), by showing that supply-side characteristics also shape demand: applicant or existing workforce compositions shape employers’ preferences by gender. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to test how changes in both labor demand and supply affect hiring discrimination.…”

A rivalry‐based theory of gender diversity

“…Specifically, in our setting, we examine whether rivals' buyers that exhibit preferences for gender diversity in their organizations have an impact on the focal firm's decision to manifest its alignment of gender parity values by appointing additional female partners (while controlling for the total number of partners). Partners are critical strategic resources for professional service providers, such as law firms, accounting firms, and management consultancies (Greenwood, Li, Prakash, & Deephouse, 2005a; Greenwood, Li, Prakash, & Deephouse, 2005b; Teece, 2003), and partner attributes, such as gender, are important for projecting an image of the firm to the market, including the firm's position on equality or the congruence with its claims (Abraham & Burbano, 2022; Giesel, 1993).…”

“…Given the raft of diversity statements and statistics published in reports to investors, documented on company websites, and commented on by industry analysts, information on rivals' buyers' diversity commitment is easily accessible for professional service suppliers 5 . A larger presence of women in a rivals' buyer's executive rank signals the socially related attributes that are preferred by that corporation (see also Abraham & Burbano, 2022; Solal & Snellman, 2019). Reciprocally, as partners are the core human assets of professional service suppliers, they too have substantial external visibility.…”

“…Thus, our rivalry‐based theory expands beyond the direct pressure of market competitors and existing buyers that could incite a focal firm to demonstrate a pro‐diversity promotion proclivity. It involves the current buyers of a focal firm's rivals and considers the signals emitted by these buyers as revealing expectations (Abraham & Burbano, 2022; Solal & Snellman, 2019). When these signals indicate an increase in their preferences for greater gender diversity, this can represent a competitive opportunity for those firms that provide a credible, reciprocal, signal of their own commitment to gender diversity.…”

Presence and Power: Teams with Hierarchical Representation of Underrepresented Minorities are More Attractive

“…Specifically, the lay-perceptions individuals have towards an ostensible team may not align with the perceptions people have when deciding whether (or not) to pursue certain jobs. A growing body of research has illustrated that job seekers take many factors into account when making job pursuit decisions, such as the congruence between leadership demographics and diversity statements (Abraham & Burbano, 2021) or recruitment materials (Avery, 2003;Wilton et al, 2020). It would be important for future research to systematically examine whether individuals are more likely to pursue and accept jobs with diverse teams with hierarchical representation and avoid (or abandon) jobs with teams with no hierarchical representation.…”