Whose Jobs Are These? The Impact of the Proportion of Female Managers on the Number of New Management Jobs Filled by Women versus Men

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the relationship between an organization’s proportion of female managers and the number of new management jobs initially filled by women versus men. We draw on theories of job differentiation, job change, and organizational demography to develop theory and predictions about this relationship and whether the relationship differs for jobs filled by female and male managers. Using data on a sample of New York City advertising agencies over a 13-year period, we find that the number of newly created jobs first filled by women increases with an agency’s proportion of female managers. In contrast, the effect of the proportion of female managers on the number of new management jobs filled by men is positive initially but plateaus and turns negative. In showing these influences on job creation, we highlight the dynamic and socially influenced nature of jobs themselves: new jobs are created regularly in firms and not merely as a response to technical and administrative imperatives. The results also point to another job-related process that differs between women and men and that could potentially aggravate, mitigate, or alleviate inequality: the creation of jobs. Thus this research contributes to literatures on demography, the organization of work, and inequality.

How do Entrepreneurial Bosses Influence their Employees’ Future Entrepreneurship Choices?

“…Part of the explanation resides in female seniors being (stronger) role models to lower-ranked women in organizations, by providing motivation and information to junior women that they could also succeed, while junior men often take the possibility of success for granted. Similar results and explanations have been provided by other studies, either looking at promotion rates or gender wage gaps inside organizations (e.g., Cohen and Broschak, 2013;Cohen and Huffman, 2007). The fact that women in top hierarchies are typically an underrepresented minority may strengthen the ties with other women in the firm, and therefore explain why men and women may be differently affected by same-gender bosses (McGinn and Milkman, 2013; see also Reagans (2005) for a context where men represent the minority).…”

“…First, because bosses face imperfect information about worker productivity, they may rely on certain group characteristics, such as gender, as signals of individual performance and ability. For this reason, female bosses (e.g., CEOs, managers, supervisors) might be better able at inferring other women's unobserved productivity, hence reducing statistical discrimination toward female workers (e.g., Cohen and Huffman, 2007;Cohen and Broschak, 2013;Smith et al, 2013;Hensvik, 2014). Second, theories of taste-based behavior of leaders also predict that a larger representation of women at top hierarchies may reduce a gender bias in the selection of employees, diminish gender wage gaps, and provide more opportunities for women to be promoted (Cardoso and Winter-Ebmer, 2010;Giuliano et al, 2011;Cohen and Broschak, 2013;Hensvik, 2014).…”

“…Women who break traditional gender roles in the labor market are believed to encourage other women to invest in similar career paths (Cohen and Broschak, 2013;Smith et al, 2013).…”

“…Recent studies propose that contextual factors may lessen gender differences (Thébaud, 2015), including those able to raise women's self-confidence and self-efficacy, such as sharing an entrepreneurial experience with a female friend (Field et al, 2016) or working closely with female superiors (McGinn and Milkman, 2013). Indeed, emerging discussions on the role of female leadership inside organizations suggest that female bosses (e.g., managers, supervisors, CEOs) may influence female employees' values, visions, and goals, and potentially inspire and encourage higher achievements among lower-ranked women in organizations (e.g., Cohen and Broschak, 2013;Foss and Lyngsie, 2016) by acting as role models. To the best of our knowledge, no prior study has investigated to what extent (female or male) bosses can serve as role models in the context of entrepreneurship.…”

Misfit and Milestones: Structural Elaboration and Capability Reinforcement in the Evolution of Entrepreneurial Top Management Teams

“…Next, we assessed new TMT roles as being added when a job title appeared that had never before existed in the firm (see Cohen & Broschak, 2013). For example, the addition of a VP of sales title that had never before existed would be counted as a new TMT role.…”