Gender Biases in Performance Evaluation: The Role of Beliefs versus Outcomes

55 Pages Posted: 14 Dec 2021 Last revised: 26 May 2023

See all articles by Nisvan Erkal

Nisvan Erkal

University of Melbourne - Faculty of Business and Economics

Lata Gangadharan

Monash University

Boon Han Koh

University of Exeter

Date Written: May 8, 2023

Abstract

We investigate whether different criteria are used in evaluating male and female leaders when outcomes are determined by unobservable choices and luck. Evaluators form beliefs about leaders’ choices and make discretionary payments. We find that while payments to male leaders are determined by both outcomes and evaluators’ beliefs, those to female leaders are determined by outcomes only. We label this new source of gender bias as the gender criteria gap. Our findings imply that high outcomes are necessary for women to get bonuses, but men can receive bonuses for low outcomes as long as evaluators hold them in high regard.

Keywords: Gender gaps, Performance evaluation, Biases in belief updating, Outcome bias, Social preferences, Laboratory experiments

JEL Classification: C92, D91, J71

Suggested Citation

Erkal, Nisvan and Gangadharan, Lata and Koh, Boon Han, Gender Biases in Performance Evaluation: The Role of Beliefs versus Outcomes (May 8, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3979701 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3979701

Nisvan Erkal

University of Melbourne - Faculty of Business and Economics ( email )

Victoria, 3010
Australia
+61 3 8344 3307 (Phone)
+61 3 8344 6899 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.nisvanerkal.net

Lata Gangadharan

Monash University ( email )

23 Innovation Walk
Wellington Road
Clayton, Victoria 3800
Australia

Boon Han Koh (Contact Author)

University of Exeter ( email )

Northcote House
The Queen's Drive
Exeter, Devon EX4 4QJ
United Kingdom

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