The researchers study whether women face greater social and employment penalties for unsuccessful risk-taking behavior than otherwise similar men, which may provide some insight as to why women generally take fewer risks than men. The study pairs two interrelated experiments to test whether women receive greater sanctions for unsuccessful risk-taking behavior than otherwise similar men. The first experiment has been completed, and found that women who made riskier bets on their own performance were less likely to be picked as a research study partner than otherwise identical men. The second study examines the economic and employment consequences of unsuccessful risk-taking for women and men. Non-profit lenders and high-tech workers will evaluate fictitious profiles of women and men in the workplace. These profiles include examples of unsuccessful risk-taking behavior: for instance, starting a business that failed after a year, or introducing a new initiative at a corporation that had the potential to be very profitable, but which ended up losing money. The goal is to see whether women are viewed as less hirable, competent, fundable, and likeable than otherwise identical men if they have taken an unsuccessful risk.
Broader Impacts
This research has implications for gender inequality, as risk-taking behavior is powerfully tied to resources, power, and status. Indeed, one often has to take a risk to reap a reward. It is likely that women engage in fewer risk-taking endeavors if they face greater penalties then men, whether through decreased employment prospects, lessened funding opportunities, or dislike by others. If this is true many of the individuals with the most status, power and resources in society (e.g. successful businesspersons, entrepreneurs, investors, and politicians) took risks to achieve their current positions. Sanctions against women for risk-taking may effectively limit the opportunities they have to acquire these valued resources. Beyond increasing gender inequality, this phenomenon may be decreasing economic efficiency. If talented women take fewer risks due to fear of sanctioning, society may have fewer innovative ideas and products, businesses that create jobs, and effective leaders. Conversely, if men face fewer sanctions, it may encourage some men to engage in high-risk, high-reward behavior that leads to ruin for themselves or others (e.g. the recent financial crisis). Awareness of this phenomenon could potentially allow institutions to improve their decision-making processes to increase efficiency.
