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

SES-1333226 PI：Christy GlassCo-PI：伊丽莎白·基斯特犹他州立大学学者们发现了一种被称为“母性工资惩罚”的现象，研究表明，有孩子的妇女面临的工资差异超出了与女性相关的工资差异。实验研究使学者们能够记录受访者对母亲相对于无子女妇女和男子的工作相关能力的负面评价。然而，政策环境塑造雇主行为的方式，以及雇主在实际工作环境中的所作所为与他们所说的做法之间的相关性，还有待研究。该项目的主要研究问题是“雇主招聘和雇用做法如何影响母亲获得工作的机会？“调查人员假设，雇主的招聘和雇用做法可能会通过雇主偏见和歧视对母亲的就业造成障碍。该项目采用了一种新的混合方法，结合了多个国家的审计研究与定性雇主访谈。首先，审计研究提供的数据进行定量分析预测的可能性，一个母亲收到一个面试的回调。第二，定性访谈使雇主能够深入描述和解释他们的政策和做法，导致审计研究中衡量的结果。该项目最后将审计研究的意见与雇主的答复进行比较。这项研究填补了现有文献中的一个空白，解决了这一机制，这可能不仅会造成就业障碍，但也有助于母亲的工资惩罚。这个问题提出的时机很重要，因为防止歧视的法律的优先权早已确立，但仍有报告显示歧视性做法和结果。除了对性别、工作和组织领域的理论和研究作出贡献外，这些研究结果还可能影响雇主做法、反歧视法和就业政策。此外，该项目增加了一个比较元素，检查国家一级的政策和企业一级的特点的影响。

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.