Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Cost of Failure: Gender and Risk-taking Behavior

塞西莉亚·里奇韦苏珊·菲斯克斯坦福大学研究人员研究了女性不成功的冒险行为是否会比其他类似的男性面临更大的社会和就业惩罚，这可能会为为什么女性通常比男性承担更少的风险提供一些见解。这项研究配对了两个相互关联的实验，以测试女性是否会因为不成功的冒险行为而比其他类似的男性受到更大的惩罚。第一个实验已经完成，结果发现，与其他情况相同的男性相比，那些对自己的表现押注风险更高的女性被选为研究伙伴的可能性更小。第二项研究考察了不成功的冒险行为对女性和男性的经济和就业后果。非营利贷款人和高科技工作者将评估虚构的工作场所男女概况。这些资料包括不成功的冒险行为的例子：例如，一年后创办了一家失败的企业，或者在一家本来有潜力盈利但最终亏损的公司推出了一项新计划。研究的目标是，如果女性冒了不成功的风险，她们是否会被认为比其他相同的男性更难雇佣、更有能力、更有资金、更讨人喜欢。布罗德影响这项研究对性别不平等有影响，因为冒险行为与资源、权力和地位有很强的联系。事实上，人们往往不得不冒险才能获得回报。如果女性面临比男性更重的惩罚，无论是因为就业前景下降、融资机会减少，还是受到其他人的厌恶，她们承担的风险可能会更少。如果这是真的，许多在社会上拥有最大地位、权力和资源的个人(例如成功的商人、企业家、投资者和政客)为了获得目前的职位而冒着风险。对承担风险的妇女的制裁可能实际上限制了她们获得这些宝贵资源的机会。除了加剧性别不平等，这种现象可能还会降低经济效率。如果有才华的女性因为害怕被制裁而减少风险，那么社会可能会减少创新的想法和产品、创造就业的企业和有效的领导人。相反，如果男性面临的制裁较少，可能会鼓励一些男性从事高风险、高回报的行为，导致自己或他人破产(例如最近的金融危机)。认识到这一现象可能会使各机构改进其决策过程，以提高效率。

Cecilia RidgewaySusan FiskStanford UniversityThe researchers study whether women face greater social and employment penalties for unsuccessful risk-taking behavior than otherwise similar men, which may provide some insight as to why women generally take fewer risks than men. The study pairs two interrelated experiments to test whether women receive greater sanctions for unsuccessful risk-taking behavior than otherwise similar men. The first experiment has been completed, and found that women who made riskier bets on their own performance were less likely to be picked as a research study partner than otherwise identical men. The second study examines the economic and employment consequences of unsuccessful risk-taking for women and men. Non-profit lenders and high-tech workers will evaluate fictitious profiles of women and men in the workplace. These profiles include examples of unsuccessful risk-taking behavior: for instance, starting a business that failed after a year, or introducing a new initiative at a corporation that had the potential to be very profitable, but which ended up losing money. The goal is to see whether women are viewed as less hirable, competent, fundable, and likeable than otherwise identical men if they have taken an unsuccessful risk.Broader ImpactsThis research has implications for gender inequality, as risk-taking behavior is powerfully tied to resources, power, and status. Indeed, one often has to take a risk to reap a reward. It is likely that women engage in fewer risk-taking endeavors if they face greater penalties then men, whether through decreased employment prospects, lessened funding opportunities, or dislike by others. If this is true many of the individuals with the most status, power and resources in society (e.g. successful businesspersons, entrepreneurs, investors, and politicians) took risks to achieve their current positions. Sanctions against women for risk-taking may effectively limit the opportunities they have to acquire these valued resources. Beyond increasing gender inequality, this phenomenon may be decreasing economic efficiency. If talented women take fewer risks due to fear of sanctioning, society may have fewer innovative ideas and products, businesses that create jobs, and effective leaders. Conversely, if men face fewer sanctions, it may encourage some men to engage in high-risk, high-reward behavior that leads to ruin for themselves or others (e.g. the recent financial crisis). Awareness of this phenomenon could potentially allow institutions to improve their decision-making processes to increase efficiency.