Doctoral Dissertation Research: Recruitment, Hiring Practices, and Wage Gaps

犹他州立大学的学者们发现了一种被称为“母亲工资惩罚”的现象，研究表明，有孩子的女性面临的工资差距超过了与女性相关的工资差距。实验研究允许学者们记录受访者对母亲工作能力的负面评价，而不是没有孩子的女性和男性。然而，政策环境影响雇主行为的方式，以及雇主在实际工作环境中所做的与他们所说的之间的相关性，还有待研究。这个项目的主要研究问题是“雇主的招聘和雇佣行为如何影响母亲的就业机会？”研究人员假设，雇主的招聘和雇佣行为可能通过雇主偏见和歧视为母亲的就业创造障碍。本项目采用了一种新颖的混合方法，将多州审计研究与定性雇主访谈相结合。首先，审计研究为定量分析提供数据，预测母亲收到面试回调的可能性。其次，定性访谈允许雇主深入描述和解释导致审计研究中测量结果的政策和实践。该项目通过比较审计研究的观察结果和雇主的回应来结束。这项研究填补了现有文献的空白，解决了这一机制，这可能不仅是创造就业障碍，而且有助于母亲的工资惩罚。这个问题是在一个重要的时刻提出的，因为早已建立了防止歧视的法律先例，但报告继续揭示歧视的做法和结果。更广泛的影响：这个项目测试母亲是否、在多大程度上以及在多大程度上成为雇主歧视的目标。这些研究结果除了有助于性别、工作和组织领域的理论和研究外，还可能影响雇主做法、反歧视法律和就业政策。此外，本项目还增加了一个比较元素，考察了州一级政策和公司一级特征的影响。

SES-1333226PI: Christy GlassCo-PI: Elizabeth KiesterUtah State UniversityScholars have identified a phenomenon known as the motherhood wage penalty with research demonstrating that women with children face wage discrepancies beyond those associated with being female. Experimental research has allowed scholars to document respondents' negative assessments of mothers' work-related aptitude relative to childless women and men. However, the ways in which the policy environment shapes employer behavior, and the correlation between what employers do and what they say they do in actual work environments, has yet to be examined. The primary research question of this project is "how do employer recruitment and hiring practices shape mothers' access to jobs?" The investigators hypothesize that employers' recruitment and hiring practices can create barriers to mothers' employment through employer bias and discrimination. This project employs a novel mixed-methods approach, combining a multi-state audit study with qualitative employer interviews. First, the audit study provides data for a quantitative analysis predicting the likelihood of a mother receiving a callback for an interview. Second, qualitative interviews allow employers to describe and explain in depth their policies and practices that lead to the outcomes measured in the audit study. The project concludes by comparing observations from the audit study with employer responses. This research fills a gap in the existing literature by addressing this mechanism that may not only be creating barriers to employment but contributing to the motherhood wage penalty as well. This question comes at an important time when legal precedence has long since been established to prevent discrimination yet reports continue to reveal discriminatory practices and outcomes.Broader Impacts: This project tests whether, to what degree and to what effect mothers are a target of employer discrimination. In addition to contributing to theory and research in the fields of gender, work and organizations, these findings will potentially influence employer practices, anti-discrimination laws and employment policies. Additionally, this project adds a comparative element that examines effects of both state- level policies and firm-level characteristics.