Motley Crew
Racial diversity and team performance: Evidence from the American offshore whaling industry
Michele Baggio & Metin Coşgel
Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, forthcoming
Abstract:
We use data from the American offshore whaling industry to examine the relationship between racial diversity and team performance. Teams consist of the crew operating onboard whaling vessels, and performance is measured by the value of the output captured during the voyage. The results show robust estimates of racial diversity's association with team performance at the firm level, which is U-shaped. Whereas increasing levels of racial diversity initially reduced revenue, higher levels yielded substantial gains. The nonlinear pattern is consistent with conflicts and hunting success working in opposite directions.
Gender Differences in Aversion to Social Comparison Feedback
Judy Qiu & Selin Kesebir
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many organizations offer their members social comparison feedback, which informs them how they perform relative to others. Previous research has linked social comparison feedback to improved motivation and performance. We propose, however, that such feedback has psychological costs that disproportionately impact women. Across six pre-registered studies, we show that social comparison feedback is more aversive and anxiety-inducing for women than for men. This gender difference persists after accounting for performance expectations and actual performance. Two mechanisms underlie women's greater aversion to social comparison feedback: Compared to men, women are less competitive and more concerned that social comparisons will harm their relationships. Our findings extend social comparison research by distinguishing between self-initiated and externally imposed comparisons and documenting a novel gender difference. We discuss the hidden costs of a common feedback method and the need to consider gendered responses when designing feedback systems.
The gender reference point gap: Evidence from a representative sample
Jonathan Levy, Olivia Ru & Agnieszka Tymula
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, April 2026
Abstract:
While women generally take fewer financial risks than men, the reasons remain unclear. Inspired by the efficient coding literature, we hypothesize that women's lower financial risk tolerance is due to lower reference points. We measured financial reference points in a representative US sample of 579 adults using a range of unincentivized and incentivized methods. In line with our predictions, we found that women have lower reference points, regardless of how they are measured, and that this translates to lower financial risk tolerance. Our results suggest that, rather than being endowed with different risk attitudes, men and women may have different reference points. We discuss possible reasons for this and its implications for policy.
The implications of pay range transparency on job application preferences and negotiations
Alice Lee, Tae-Youn Park & Sungyong Chang
Journal of Applied Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Pay range transparency laws, which require employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings, have gained traction as a strategy for narrowing the gender pay gap by strengthening workers' access to pay information. However, these policies often give employers considerable latitude in setting how wide or narrow those ranges are, raising questions about whether certain implementations might inadvertently sustain -- or even exacerbate -- existing wage disparities. Our research addresses this issue by examining how the width of disclosed pay ranges influences women's and men's job application and negotiation behaviors and whether providing more clarity around typical salary outcomes can mitigate these unintended consequences. Across four studies -- encompassing a large archival data set (Study 1), surveys and field experiments with prospective and actual job seekers (Studies 2 and 3), and an experimental intervention (Study 4) -- we consistently find that women exhibit a stronger preference for jobs with narrower pay ranges than men, largely driven by women's higher risk aversion. Moreover, choosing narrower pay ranges is associated with less assertive negotiation behaviors, suggesting a path through which pay range disclosures may perpetuate gender gaps in compensation. By providing explicit information about the typical starting salary and the criteria used to determine final offers, we show that organizations can reduce these effects and support more equitable outcomes, offering practical insights for policymakers and employers aiming to ensure that pay transparency fulfills its aim of closing, rather than reinforcing, the gender wage gap.
Gendered Navigation of Advice and Suboptimal Behavior in Matching Algorithms: Evidence from the Residency Match
Samuel Skowronek & Joyce He
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Two-sided matching algorithms have been deployed at an increasing rate in labor markets all over the world in part because they can result in more equitable labor market matches. To achieve this desirable result, institutions using these algorithms often engage in a translation process to provide advice to market participants about how to optimally interact with the algorithm. We draw on theories of gendered agency to theorize that men may be more likely than women to engage in independent advice seeking -- an agentic way of navigating one's understanding by seeking out additional advice about how the algorithm works to form their own understanding beyond the baseline advice provided by institutions -- and that this tendency leads men to have more success with the algorithm because of their deeper understanding. We test these predictions in the context of the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), which uses a two-sided matching algorithm to match graduating medical students to residencies in the United States. Using archival data of medical students' responses in an incentivized simulation of the NRMP and 66 interviews with medical students going through the match, we find evidence supporting these hypotheses. Men are more likely than women to seek additional advice beyond the baseline guidance, improving their understanding and success with the algorithm. These findings advance prior literature by demonstrating that group-based disparities may occur even when the algorithm itself is unbiased because individuals navigate understanding of these novel algorithms in ways shaped by their identities (i.e., gender).
When DEI Policies Discriminate Against DEI Candidates
Rishabh Aggarwal, Venky Nagar & Ram Ramanan
University of Michigan Working Paper, March 2026
Abstract:
This study builds a model that shows that a firm's DEI employee policy can favor a DEI job candidate in partial equilibrium, but can hurt her in general equilibrium. The reason is that DEI policies are often opaque and so a firm that would otherwise have been the correct match for a DEI candidate purely on a merit basis may believe that she may land an even better offer on DEI grounds. The firm may thus pass on her and settle for an inferior but sure non DEI candidate. This behavior could cascade across firms, and eventually end up leaving the DEI candidate jobless, which would have never happened to her in a pure merit-based job market. Our model shows that the empirically documented failure of DEI policies to benefit DEI candidates may be a general equilibrium artifact that is no firm's fault, and not willful diversity washing or tokenism by firms, as has been suggested in prior empirical accounting research.
Interpreting Violence: How Community Context Shapes Corporate Responses to Street Protests
Forrest Briscoe, Mark DesJardine & Muhan Zhang
Administrative Science Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Violence that erupts in communities invites complex interpretations that can create a dilemma for business leaders about how to respond. Investigating how organizations respond to violence in protests, we build on the community embeddedness literature and propose that business leaders' responses to protest violence depend on their perceptions of whether the violence is justified. Leaders may view reported protest violence as evidence of either social disorder or a valid grievance in the community where the violence occurs and where their companies are headquartered. We theorize that business leaders' interpretations of violence are influenced by their community's recent history: A history of protest violence unrelated to the social cause underlying the current protest weakens the managerial perception that the social issue is relevant to the community, while a history of grievance-validating events strengthens this perception. Using hand-collected data on corporate announcements following the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, we find that firms are less likely to announce diversity actions in response to reported protest violence in communities marked by persistent violence in previous non-BLM protests, but they are more likely to do so in communities with records of more police shootings. These same community conditions also shape the effect of violence on whether firms decide to publicly endorse the movement when they announce their corporate actions. Demonstrating that violence reshapes the ways that organizations respond to protests, we discuss the implications of our findings for research on violence, social movements, and corporate activism.
Test Score Outcomes of Native American Students: A Large Empirical Analysis from Oklahoma
Daniel Hamlin & Jameson Lopez
AERA Open, March 2026
Abstract:
The test score outcomes of major racial/ethnic groups in the United States are well documented. However, strikingly few statistical analyses investigate the academic outcomes of Native American students. This study drew on data containing >120,000 Native American student observations in grades 3-8 in Oklahoma from 2017 to 2019. Native American students' test scores were lower than those of White and Asian students, but this difference decreased after accounting for background factors (e.g., poverty, special education status, and student mobility). Within the Native American sample, results also showed significant within-group heterogeneity based on individual background factors. Overall findings indicate that Native American students' test score performance exceeds levels reported in prior descriptive reports.