Despite significant advancement in women's educational attainment, gender differences in labor market outcomes persist. Horizontal as well as vertical job segregation is substantial, causing men and women to have very different labor market experiences. Common explanations for these differences are discrimination and that men and women differ in their abilities and preferences over jobs. This project aims to determine if differences in task allocation at work may help explain why women advance at a slower rate than men in the work place.
In most professional occupations, workers have some discretion over the allocation of their time. A worker can allocate her time to tasks that are likely to improve her performance evaluation ("promotable tasks") or to tasks that, while benefitting the organization, are unlikely to affect her evaluation and advance her career ("non-promotable tasks"). When presented with requests for non-promotable tasks it is essential that the individual properly assess whether she has the discretion to say "no" and whether it is in her interest to do so. Individuals who find it difficult to decline requests to perform non-promotable tasks may hamper their career advancement and job satisfaction, and this could cause them to reduce their commitment and investment in the organization.
This project will use surveys, experiments and secondary data to examine if, relative to men, women are more likely to agree to and receive requests for work-related tasks that are unlikely to lead to their promotion. The former is referred to as the supply of non-promotable work-related tasks and the latter as the demand.
In examining the supply, a survey is first conducted to determine how individuals perceive requests for tasks that they would prefer to decline. Preliminary results reveal that women find it more difficult to say "no", and that they are more concerned about the negative ramifications of doing so. A laboratory experiment is then used to examine if such concerns translate into behavioral differences. An experiment is designed to capture the incentives members of a group face when asked to deliver a volunteer for a task that they prefer another member of the group undertakes (such as writing a report, serving on a committee, organizing an event etc.). Pilot data suggest that women are almost twice as likely to volunteer for such tasks, and that they, in repeated interaction, continue to volunteer at a higher rate. Conducting the experiment with both mixed- and single-sex groups reveals that the willingness to undertake the task (for both men and women) decreases with the number of women in the group. Thus group composition plays a central role, suggesting that women are more likely to agree to requests for non-promotable tasks in male-dominated environments. The proposed work will examine what gives rise to these differences. Of particular interest is the extent to which the documented differences can be explained by differences in preferences (e.g., altruism) or in the beliefs individuals hold about the actions of others. The examination of the response to requests will also be extended to settings where requests are made explicit and where the decision to volunteer is made in actual work environments (e.g., ad hoc tenure review committees). Finally, additional surveys will be conducted to explore the decision-making processes men and women use when deciding whether to decline requests for non-promotable tasks.
Differences in the demand for non-promotable work-related tasks will be examined by first extending the laboratory study to a setting where one member of a group is given the option of asking another group member to volunteer. Pilot data suggest that when given the choice between asking a male and a female candidate to volunteer, men are more likely to ask the female to do so. Second, a diary study of faculty members will be conducted to assess the frequency with which they receive requests for tasks that do not advance their career. Finally, several laboratory and survey studies will be done to determine if individuals who are asked to distribute tasks across individuals tend to assign the less desirable tasks to women rather than men.
By documenting and bringing attention to gender differences in task allocation through the academic and popular press, the proposed studies will create awareness of these differences among managers who assign tasks and among women and men who decide how to allocate their time. Such awareness may help decrease the gender gap in career advancement, and help secure that the full potential is reached for women, men and society as a whole.
