SBP: Creating cultures of growth: An organizational mindset approach to reducing social identity threat among women in STEM

Reeves, Stephanie Lauren, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program and SBE's Social Psychology Program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Mary Murphy at Indiana University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the role of organizational mindsets in shaping women's experiences and outcomes in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Recruiting and retaining more women in STEM fields is a pressing concern in US society. One reason that women often opt out of STEM fields is that a variety of subtle situational cues and messages can lead women to experience social identity threat (i.e. the concern that they may be devalued or excluded because of their gender) in STEM. Previous research has shown that one robust and powerful cue that affects women's experiences of identity threat in STEM is the beliefs that powerful people in a given organization hold about the fixed or malleable nature of STEM abilities - that is, the organization's mindset. But how do STEM organizations communicate their mindsets to current and future employees? That is, what policies, procedures, and actions lead people to view a company as espousing a fixed or a growth mindset? And how can an understanding of these organizational mindset messages be leveraged to mitigate gender disparities in participation and achievement in STEM? The proposed research addresses these questions using an innovative multi-method approach. Specifically, Phase 1 of the proposed research consists of a series of laboratory experiments to identify the cues and messages that communicate organizational mindsets across several different organizational functions. These experiments provide a rigorous casual test of the impact of these cues on women's experiences of identity threat, interest, trust, and performance in STEM professional settings. Phase 2 consists of a randomized control trial with experience sampling and longitudinal components to examine how organizational mindsets can be changed to mitigate experiences of identity threat for women in STEM workplace settings. The proposed research contributes to both contextual theories of social identity threat and to the implicit theories (i.e. mindsets) literature. Although a small but growing number of studies have linked perceptions of organizational mindsets to experiences of identity threat among members of underrepresented groups, no research has yet examined where these perceptions of organizational mindsets come from or how they can be changed. This research also carries broader implications for society by illuminating strategies to increase women's participation and retention in STEM organizations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.