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

SES-1333226PI：Christy Glassco-PI：Elizabeth Kiester犹他州州立大学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异不仅仅是与女性相关的。实验研究使学者们能够记录受访者对母亲相对于无子女女性和男性的工作相关能力的负面评估。然而，政策环境是如何塑造雇主行为的，以及雇主在实际工作环境中所做的事情与他们所说的事情之间的相关性，还有待研究。这个项目的主要研究问题是“雇主招聘和雇佣做法如何影响母亲获得工作的机会？”调查人员假设，雇主的招聘和雇佣做法可能会通过雇主的偏见和歧视对母亲的就业造成障碍。这个项目采用了一种新颖的混合方法，结合了多个州的审计研究和定性的雇主访谈。首先，审计研究为预测母亲收到面试回电的可能性的量化分析提供了数据。其次，定性访谈使雇主能够深入描述和解释他们的政策和做法，这些政策和做法导致审计研究中衡量的结果。该项目通过将审计研究的意见与雇主的答复进行比较来结束该项目。这项研究填补了现有文献中的一个空白，解决了这一机制，这种机制不仅可能造成就业障碍，而且还会导致母亲的工资惩罚。这个问题是在一个重要时刻提出的，此时法律上的优先地位早已确立，以防止歧视，但报告继续揭示歧视性做法和结果。广泛的影响：该项目测试母亲是否、在多大程度上以及在什么程度上是雇主歧视的目标。除了对性别、工作和组织领域的理论和研究做出贡献外，这些发现还可能影响雇主的做法、反歧视法律和就业政策。此外，这个项目增加了一个比较元素，检查国家层面的政策和公司层面的特征的影响。

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.