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不同职业和行业之间的差异。这种排序行为可能是由员工的二次信念驱动的，通过求职决定，二次信念是关于其他人的信念。本研究考察了二阶信念是否是通过求职决定进行性别分类的重要机制。这项研究通过一项结构化的实地实验来探索这个问题，通过使用广告征集真正高薪白领工作的申请，这些广告通过改变招聘经理的性别和产品部门的性别协会来改变相关的二等信念。在应聘者做出求职决定后，通过实验室实验引出他们的二阶信念，以了解这些信念如何影响工作排序。总体而言，这项建议揭示了基于二次信念的劳动力市场行为，并对设计招聘工具以缓解按性别分类工作和相应的性别工资差距具有影响。工作分流行为是造成性别工资差异的重要因素。对雇主对男性和女性相对能力的看法是次要的信念，这可能是为什么某些行业和职业会有工作分类的原因。本研究采用现场实验和在线实验室实验相结合的方法，研究二阶信念是否会影响员工的求职决策。在现场试验中，产品线多种多样，以反映不同性别传统上喜欢的职业，以及经理的性别。这两个因素都与员工的二阶信念相关。在现场实验之后，进行了一项调查，以揭示参与者的二阶信念。通过结合现场和实验室数据，这项建议提供了证据，表明劳动力市场的二等信念如何通过工作分类行为导致性别工资差距。这一裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.