Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Cost of Failure: Gender and Risk-taking Behavior

斯坦福大学的研究人员研究了女性是否会因为不成功的冒险行为而比其他方面相似的男性面临更大的社会和就业惩罚，这可能会为为什么女性通常比男性更少冒险提供一些见解。这项研究将两个相互关联的实验配对起来，以测试女性是否会因冒险行为失败而受到比其他类似男性更大的惩罚。第一个实验已经完成，结果发现，与其他条件相同的男性相比，对自己的表现下注风险更大的女性被选为研究对象的可能性更小。第二项研究考察了冒险失败对女性和男性的经济和就业后果。非营利贷款机构和高科技工作者将评估工作场所中虚构的女性和男性的个人资料。这些简介包括不成功的冒险行为的例子：例如，创业一年后就失败了，或者在一家公司推出了一项新计划，该计划有可能非常有利可图，但最终却赔钱了。研究的目标是，如果女性冒险失败，是否会被认为比其他方面相同的男性更不适合雇佣、更有能力、更可靠、更讨人喜欢。更广泛的影响这项研究对性别不平等有启示，因为冒险行为与资源、权力和地位密切相关。的确，一个人往往需要冒险才能获得回报。如果女性面临比男性更大的惩罚，无论是由于就业前景下降、融资机会减少，还是受到他人的厌恶，她们很可能会减少冒险活动。如果这是真的，那么许多在社会上拥有最高地位、权力和资源的人（例如成功的商人、企业家、投资者和政治家）冒着风险获得了他们目前的地位。对妇女冒险行为的制裁可能会有效地限制她们获得这些宝贵资源的机会。除了加剧性别不平等，这种现象还可能降低经济效率。如果有才能的女性因为害怕受到制裁而减少冒险，那么社会上创新的想法和产品、创造就业机会的企业和有效的领导者就会减少。相反，如果男性面临较少的制裁，可能会鼓励一些男性从事高风险、高回报的行为，从而导致自己或他人的毁灭（例如最近的金融危机）。认识到这一现象有可能使各机构改进其决策过程以提高效率。

Cecilia RidgewaySusan FiskStanford UniversityThe 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 ImpactsThis 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.