Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Worker Beliefs and the Job Application Behavior

摘要造成性别工资差距的最大因素之一是职业和行业的分类。这种排序行为可能是由员工的二阶信念驱动的，即通过工作申请决策对他人信念的信念。本研究探讨了二阶信念在求职决策中是否为性别分类的重要机制。该研究通过一个结构化的现场实验来探讨这个问题，通过改变招聘经理的性别和产品部门的性别协会，广告通过改变相关的二阶信念来征求一个真正的高薪白领工作的申请。在候选人做出求职决定后，通过实验室实验，引出他们的二阶信念，了解这些信念如何影响工作排序。总的来说，这一建议揭示了基于二阶信念的劳动力市场行为，并对设计招聘工具以减轻按性别分类的工作和相应的性别工资差距具有启示意义。职业分类行为是造成性别工资差距的重要因素。雇主对男性和女性相对能力的看法是二阶信念，这可能是某些行业和职业存在工作分类的原因。本研究结合现场实验与线上实验室实验，探讨二阶信念是否会影响员工的求职决策。在实地实验中，产品线的变化反映了传统上不同性别青睐的职业，以及管理者的性别。这两个因素都与员工的二阶信念有关。现场实验之后是调查，以揭示参与者的二阶信念。通过结合现场和实验室数据，本提案为劳动力市场中的二阶信念如何通过工作分类行为导致性别工资差距提供了证据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

AbstractOne of the largest factors contributing to the gender wage gap is sorting across occupations and industries. This sorting behavior may be driven by workers' second-order beliefs, which are beliefs about other people's beliefs, through the job application decision. This research examines whether second-order beliefs are an important mechanism underlying the sorting by gender through the job application decision. The research explores this question with a structured field experiment by soliciting applications for a real high-paying white-collar job using advertisements that vary the relevant second-order beliefs through varying the gender of the hiring manager and the gender associations of the product sector. After the job application decision of the candidates, their second-order beliefs are elicited through a laboratory experiment to understand how these beliefs affect job sorting. Overall, this proposal sheds light on labor market behavior based on second-order beliefs and has implications for designing recruitment tools to mitigate job sorting by gender and the corresponding gender wage gap. Job sorting behavior is an important factor contributing to the gender wage gap. Beliefs about what employers believe about the relative ability of men and women, which are second-order beliefs, may be a reason why there is job sorting to certain industries and occupations. This study combines a field experiment with an online laboratory experiment to determine whether second-order beliefs affect workers' job application decision. In the field experiment, product lines are varied to reflect occupations traditionally favored by different genders, as well as the gender of managers. Both of these factors are relevant for second-order beliefs of workers. The field experiment is followed by a survey to reveal the second order beliefs of the participants. By combining the field and laboratory data, this proposal provides evidence on how second-order beliefs in the labor market contribute to the gender wage gap through job sorting behavior.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.