IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v185y2019ics0165176519303428.html

In-group gender bias in hiring: Real-world evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Carlsson, Magnus
  • Eriksson, Stefan

Abstract

We investigate in-group gender bias in real-world hiring decisions by combining administrative data with data from a large-scale field experiment on hiring in which fictitious resumes with randomly assigned information about gender were sent to Swedish employers. Our results suggest that women (female recruiters or firms with a high share of female employees) favor women in the recruitment process. In contrast, we do not find much evidence that men (male recruiters or firms with a high share of male employees) favor men.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlsson, Magnus & Eriksson, Stefan, 2019. "In-group gender bias in hiring: Real-world evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:185:y:2019:i:c:s0165176519303428
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.108686
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176519303428
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2019.108686?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/14otokka698nb83lk2n7bhqbo2 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Booth, Alison & Leigh, Andrew, 2010. "Do employers discriminate by gender? A field experiment in female-dominated occupations," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 236-238, May.
    3. Manuel Bagues & Mauro Sylos-Labini & Natalia Zinovyeva, 2017. "Does the Gender Composition of Scientific Committees Matter?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(4), pages 1207-1238, April.
    4. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3143-3259 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Stephen Leider & Markus M. Möbius & Tanya Rosenblat & Quoc-Anh Do, 2009. "Directed Altruism and Enforced Reciprocity in Social Networks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1815-1851.
    6. Claudia Goldin, 2014. "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1091-1119, April.
    7. Manuel F. Bagues & Berta Esteve-Volart, 2010. "Can Gender Parity Break the Glass Ceiling? Evidence from a Repeated Randomized Experiment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(4), pages 1301-1328.
    8. Altonji, Joseph G. & Blank, Rebecca M., 1999. "Race and gender in the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 48, pages 3143-3259, Elsevier.
    9. Carlsson, Magnus & Eriksson, Stefan, 2019. "Age discrimination in hiring decisions: Evidence from a field experiment in the labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 173-183.
    10. Yan Chen & Sherry Xin Li, 2009. "Group Identity and Social Preferences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 431-457, March.
    11. Magnus Carlsson, 2011. "Does Hiring Discrimination Cause Gender Segregation in the Swedish Labor Market?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 71-102.
    12. repec:feb:natura:0058 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Lorenz Goette & David Huffman & Stephan Meier, 2012. "The Impact of Social Ties on Group Interactions: Evidence from Minimal Groups and Randomly Assigned Real Groups," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 101-115, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Igor Asanov & Maria Mavlikeeva, 2023. "Can group identity explain the gender gap in the recruitment process?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 95-113, January.
    2. José J. Domínguez, 2021. "The Effectiveness of Committee Quotas; The Role of Group Dynamics," ThE Papers 21/12, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    3. Andersson, Ola & Backman, Malin & Bengtsson, Niklas & Engström, Per, 2025. "Are economics students biased against female teachers? Evidence from a randomized, double-blind natural field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    4. repec:ces:ceswps:_10606 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Domínguez, José J., 2023. "Diversified committees in hiring processes: Lab evidence on group dynamics," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Adamus, Magdalena & Guzi, Martin & Ballová Mikušková, Eva, 2025. "Evaluators’ masculine gender identity may drive gender biases in peer evaluation of business plans," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    7. Charpin, Agnès & Szafarz, Ariane & Tojerow, Ilan, 2023. "Female corporate owners and female CEOs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    8. Igor Asanov & Maria Mavlikeeva, 2025. "Is Self-employment a Career Trap? A Large-Scale Field Experiment in the Labor Market," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202513, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    9. Paula Scholz, 2025. "It's Not About the Money – Or Is It? Stereotypes and the Gender Application Gap," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 359, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    10. Urs Fischbacher & Dorothea Kübler & Robert Stüber, 2024. "Betting on Diversity—Occupational Segregation and Gender Stereotypes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(8), pages 5502-5516, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Igor Asanov & Maria Mavlikeeva, 2023. "Can group identity explain the gender gap in the recruitment process?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 95-113, January.
    2. Maria De Paola & Michela Ponzo & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2018. "Are Men Given Priority for Top Jobs? Investigating the Glass Ceiling in Italian Academia," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 475-503.
    3. Katherine B. Coffman & Christine L. Exley & Muriel Niederle, 2021. "The Role of Beliefs in Driving Gender Discrimination," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3551-3569, June.
    4. Chang, Han Il & Dariel, Aurelie & Reuben, Alicja & Zhang, Huanren, 2024. "Gender identity, salience of information, and tacit coordination: Gender differences in response to strategic uncertainty," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    5. Baert, Stijn, 2017. "Hiring Discrimination: An Overview of (Almost) All Correspondence Experiments Since 2005," GLO Discussion Paper Series 61, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo, 2016. "Field Experiments on Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 22014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Muradova,Sevilya & Seitz,William Hutchins, 2021. "Gender Discrimination in Hiring : Evidence from an Audit Experiment in Uzbekistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9784, The World Bank.
    8. Salvanes, Kjell G & Johnsen, Julian Vedeler & Ku, Hyejin, 2020. "Competition and Career Advancement: The Hidden Costs of Paid Leave," CEPR Discussion Papers 15157, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Ryan Brown & Hani Mansour & Stephen O'Connell & James Reeves, 2019. "Gender Differences in Political Career Progression: Evidence from U.S. Elections," CESifo Working Paper Series 7821, CESifo.
    10. Max Coveney & Pilar Garcia-Gomez & Teresa Marreiros Bago d'Uva, 2025. "Gender and Performance in Collaboration: Evidence from Random Student Teams," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 25-032/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    11. Pierre Deschamps, 2024. "Gender Quotas in Hiring Committees: A Boon or a Bane for Women?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(11), pages 7486-7505, November.
    12. Kübler, Dorothea & Schmid, Julia & Stüber, Robert, 2018. "Gender discrimination in hiring across occupations: a nationally-representative vignette study," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 55, pages 215-229.
    13. Daskalova, Vessela, 2018. "Discrimination, social identity, and coordination: An experiment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 238-252.
    14. Van Borm, Hannah & Baert, Stijn, 2022. "Diving in the minds of recruiters: What triggers gender stereotypes in hiring?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1083, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    15. Edo, Anthony & Toubal, Farid, 2017. "Immigration and the gender wage gap," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 196-214.
    16. Mladen Adamovic & Andreas Leibbrandt, 2023. "A large‐scale field experiment on occupational gender segregation and hiring discrimination," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 34-59, January.
    17. Byker, Tanya & Malik, Sara & Patel, Elena & Sandvik, Jason, 2025. "Board Gender Diversity and Workforce Composition, Compensation, and Retention for U.S. Publicly Traded Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 18125, IZA Network @ LISER.
    18. Lorenz Goette & David Huffman & Stephan Meier & Matthias Sutter, 2012. "Competition Between Organizational Groups: Its Impact on Altruistic and Antisocial Motivations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(5), pages 948-960, May.
    19. Stijn Baert & Ann-Sophie De Pauw & Nick Deschacht, 2016. "Do Employer Preferences Contribute to Sticky Floors?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 69(3), pages 714-736, May.
    20. Moritz Drechsel-Grau & Felix Holub, 2020. "Gender Gaps and the Role of Bosses," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2020_237, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:185:y:2019:i:c:s0165176519303428. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.