Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Evidence on Closing Gender Gaps in Self-Promotion

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Despite progress in recent decades, gender gaps in labor market outcomes remain persistent both in the United States and globally, underscoring the need for further research to shape informed policies and interventions. This proposal focuses on an important but understudied source of these gender gaps: self-promotional behaviors. Self-promotion involves whether and how individuals communicate their skills, abilities, and achievements, which significantly influence how they are perceived by their colleagues and employers. Thus, if there are gender differences in self-promotional tendencies, or if self-promotion differentially affects outcomes for men and women, it may have far-reaching effects across various stages of their careers, ranging from education and hiring, to task assignments and promotions. The project entails an interdisciplinary approach that draws from economics and psychology to understand self-promotion both as a supply-side and demand-side driver of gender gaps in labor market outcomes. Leveraging lab experiments, field studies, and observational data, the research aims to address three questions. First, are there gender differences in the propensity and degree of self-promotion, and what are the underlying mechanisms of these decisions? Second, what is the impact of self-promotion on career outcomes, and do men and women equally benefit from self-promotion across different professional contexts? Third, if self-promotion is important for career outcomes, how can we mitigate gender gaps in self-promotional tendencies? The research seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of not just whether but also when and how self-promotion can exacerbate gender disparities within organizations. The resulting knowledge help in better understanding when and how gender gaps arise, and more importantly, can inform the design of structural interventions that change features of the environment in which men and women make decisions. 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.