| By: |
Hochleitner, Anna (Centre for Applied Research, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration);
Tufano, Fabio (Dept. of Economics, Finance and Accounting, University of Leicester);
Facchini, Giovanni (School of Economics, University of Nottingham);
Rueda, Valeria (School of Economics, University of Nottingham);
Eberhardt, Markus (School of Economics, University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: |
We study the gendered impact of recommendations at different stages of the
hiring process. First, using a large sample of reference letters from the
academic job market for economists, we document that women receive fewer
‘ability’ and more ‘grindstone’ letters. Next, we conduct two experiments —
with academic economists and a broader, college-educated, population —
analyzing both recommendation and recruitment stages. These confirm that
recommendations are gendered and impact recruitment. We elicit gender views
and beliefs about the effectiveness of different letter types, uncovering that
gender attitudes and strategic behavior based on erroneous beliefs explain
referees’ choices. Finally, we decompose gender recruitment gaps into two
components: one capturing differences in treatment of candidates with
identical qualities, the other reflecting recruiters’ failure to account for
gendered patterns in recommendations. We show that recruiters’ failure to
recognize the gendered nature of reference letters undermines visible efforts
to improve diversity in hiring. |
| Keywords: |
Gender; Recruitment; Diversity; Experiments |
| JEL: |
A11 D19 J16 |
| Date: |
2025–03–31 |
| URL: |
https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2025_007 |