Collaborative Proposal: Time Allocation: Gender Differences in Propensity to Receive and Agree to Work-Related Requests

协作提案：时间分配：接收和同意工作相关请求倾向的性别差异

• 批准号: 1329424
• 负责人: Linda Babcock
• 金额: $ 24.2万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1329424&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Proposal; Time; Allocation; Gender

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.

尽管妇女的教育程度有了很大提高，但劳动力市场结果的性别差异依然存在。横向和纵向的职业隔离都很严重，导致男性和女性在劳动力市场上的经历截然不同。这些差异的常见解释是歧视，以及男性和女性在能力和对工作的偏好上的不同。该项目旨在确定工作中任务分配的差异是否有助于解释为什么女性在工作场所的进步速度慢于男性。在大多数专业职业中，工人在分配时间方面有一定的自由裁量权。员工可以将自己的时间分配给可能改善其绩效评估的任务(“可提升任务”)，或者分配给那些在使组织受益但不太可能影响其评估和提升其职业生涯的任务(“不可提升任务”)。当提出不可晋升任务的请求时，个人必须适当地评估她是否有权酌情说“不”，以及这样做是否符合她的利益。那些发现很难拒绝执行不可晋升任务的请求的人可能会阻碍他们的职业发展和工作满意度，这可能会导致他们减少对组织的承诺和投资。该项目将使用调查、实验和次要数据来研究，相对于男性，女性是否更有可能同意和接受不太可能导致他们晋升的与工作相关的任务的请求。前者被称为不可提升的工作相关任务的供应，后者被称为需求。在检查供应时，首先进行了一项调查，以确定个人如何看待他们愿意拒绝的任务请求。初步结果显示，女性发现更难说“不”，而且她们更担心这样做的负面影响。然后，使用实验室实验来检验这种担忧是否会转化为行为差异。一项实验旨在捕捉小组成员在被要求为一项他们更喜欢小组成员承担的任务(如撰写报告、在委员会任职、组织活动等)提供志愿者时面临的激励。试点数据表明，女性志愿参与这类任务的可能性几乎是女性的两倍，而且在反复互动中，她们继续以更高的比例志愿服务。对混合性别和单一性别群体进行的实验表明，承担这项任务的意愿(对男性和女性都是)随着小组中女性人数的增加而下降。因此，群体构成起着核心作用，这表明在男性占主导地位的环境中，女性更有可能同意非晋升任务的请求。这项拟议的工作将研究是什么导致了这些差异。特别令人感兴趣的是，记录的差异在多大程度上可以由偏好的差异(例如，利他主义)或个人对他人行为的信念的差异来解释。对请求答复的审查还将扩大到明确提出请求并在实际工作环境中作出自愿决定的环境(例如，特设任期审查委员会)。最后，还将进行额外的调查，以探索男性和女性在决定是否拒绝不可升级的任务请求时所使用的决策过程。通过首先将实验室研究扩展到允许小组中的一名成员选择要求另一组成员自愿的环境，将审查对不可升级的工作相关任务的需求的差异。试点数据显示，当让男性和女性候选人之间进行选择时，男性更有可能要求女性做志愿者。其次，将对教职员工进行日记研究，以评估他们收到不利于他们职业生涯的任务请求的频率。最后，将进行几项实验室和调查研究，以确定被要求在不同个人之间分配任务的人是否倾向于将不太可取的任务分配给女性而不是男性。通过通过学术和大众媒体记录和引起对任务分配中的性别差异的关注，拟议的研究将在分配任务的管理者以及决定如何分配时间的女性和男性中提高对这些差异的认识。这种认识可能有助于缩小职业发展中的性别差距，并有助于确保充分发挥妇女、男子和整个社会的潜力。