IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/labeco/v92y2025ics0927537124001581.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender homophily in job referrals: Evidence from a field study among university students

Author

Listed:
  • Hederos, Karin
  • Sandberg, Anna
  • Kvissberg, Lukas
  • Polano, Erik

Abstract

We conducted a field study at a Swedish business school to investigate gender homophily in referrer behavior. In the study, 453 participants were asked to refer another student at the school for a real job. We find that both men and women mainly refer candidates of their own gender: 71% of female participants referred a female candidate, and 75% of male participants referred a male candidate. The gender composition of close friendship networks appears to be an important driver of this pattern. Randomizing participants across two job advertisements, we find suggestive evidence that the degree of gender homophily in job referrals is stronger when the job is more consistent with stereotypes associated with the participant’s own gender.

Suggested Citation

  • Hederos, Karin & Sandberg, Anna & Kvissberg, Lukas & Polano, Erik, 2025. "Gender homophily in job referrals: Evidence from a field study among university students," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:92:y:2025:i:c:s0927537124001581
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2024.102662
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537124001581
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.labeco.2024.102662?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lori Beaman & Jeremy Magruder, 2012. "Who Gets the Job Referral? Evidence from a Social Networks Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3574-3593, December.
    2. Dan Zeltzer, 2020. "Gender Homophily in Referral Networks: Consequences for the Medicare Physician Earnings Gap," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 169-197, April.
    3. Albrecht Glitz & Rune Vejlin, 2021. "Learning through Coworker Referrals," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 42, pages 37-71, October.
    4. Meta Brown & Elizabeth Setren & Giorgio Topa, 2016. "Do Informal Referrals Lead to Better Matches? Evidence from a Firm's Employee Referral System," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 161-209.
    5. Elena Obukhova & George Lan, 2013. "Do Job Seekers Benefit from Contacts? A Direct Test with Contemporaneous Searches," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(10), pages 2204-2216, October.
    6. Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Matthew O. Jackson, 2004. "The Effects of Social Networks on Employment and Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 426-454, June.
    7. Alan Griffith, 2022. "Name Your Friends, but Only Five? The Importance of Censoring in Peer Effects Estimates Using Social Network Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(4), pages 779-805.
    8. Yannis M. Ioannides & Linda Datcher Loury, 2004. "Job Information Networks, Neighborhood Effects, and Inequality," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1056-1093, December.
    9. Lena Hensvik & Oskar Nordström Skans, 2016. "Social Networks, Employee Selection, and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(4), pages 825-867.
    10. Amanda Pallais & Emily Glassberg Sands, 2016. "Why the Referential Treatment? Evidence from Field Experiments on Referrals," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(6), pages 1793-1828.
    11. Stephen V. Burks & Bo Cowgill & Mitchell Hoffman & Michael Housman, 2015. "The Value of Hiring through Employee Referrals," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 805-839.
    12. Beugnot, Julie & Peterlé, Emmanuel, 2020. "Gender bias in job referrals: An experimental test," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    13. Julie Beugnot & Emmanuel Peterle, 2020. "Gender bias in job referrals: An experimental test," Post-Print hal-04526621, HAL.
    14. Friebel, Guido & Lalanne, Marie & Richter, Bernard & Schwardmann, Peter & Seabright, Paul, 2021. "Gender differences in social interactions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 33-45.
    15. Guido Friebel & Matthias Heinz & Mitchell Hoffman & Nick Zubanov, 2023. "What Do Employee Referral Programs Do? Measuring the Direct and Overall Effects of a Management Practice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(3), pages 633-686.
    16. Lori Beaman & Niall Keleher & Jeremy Magruder, 2018. "Do Job Networks Disadvantage Women? Evidence from a Recruitment Experiment in Malawi," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 121-157.
    17. Adina D. Sterling, 2014. "Friendships and Search Behavior in Labor Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(9), pages 2341-2354, September.
    18. Montgomery, James D, 1991. "Social Networks and Labor-Market Outcomes: Toward an Economic Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1407-1418, December.
    19. Alexia Delfino, 2024. "Breaking Gender Barriers: Experimental Evidence on Men in Pink-Collar Jobs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(6), pages 1816-1853, June.
    20. Marianne Bertrand & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "The Gender Gap in Top Corporate Jobs," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(1), pages 3-21, October.
    21. Michele Pellizzari, 2010. "Do Friends and Relatives Really Help in Getting a Good Job?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 63(3), pages 494-510, April.
    22. James Albrecht & Anders Bjorklund & Susan Vroman, 2003. "Is There a Glass Ceiling in Sweden?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 145-177, January.
    23. Brian Rubineau & Roberto M. Fernandez, 2013. "Missing Links: Referrer Behavior and Job Segregation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(11), pages 2470-2489, November.
    24. Roxana Barbulescu & Matthew Bidwell, 2013. "Do Women Choose Different Jobs from Men? Mechanisms of Application Segregation in the Market for Managerial Workers," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 737-756, June.
    25. Yan Chen & Sherry Xin Li, 2009. "Group Identity and Social Preferences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 431-457, March.
    26. Tavis Barr & Raicho Bojilov & Lalith Munasinghe, 2019. "Referrals and Search Efficiency: Who Learns What and When?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(4), pages 1267-1300.
    27. Brian Rubineau & Roberto M. Fernandez, 2015. "Tipping Points: The Gender Segregating and Desegregating Effects of Network Recruitment," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 1646-1664, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Dariel, Aurelie & Riedl, Arno & Siegenthaler, Simon, 2021. "Referral hiring and wage formation in a market with adverse selection," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 109-130.
    2. Nicoletta Berardi & Marie Lalanne & Paul Seabright, 2019. "Professional Networks and their Coevolution with Executive Careers," Working papers 723, Banque de France.
    3. Dariel, Aurelie & Riedl, Arno & Siegenthaler, Simon, 2019. "Hiring through Referrals in a Labor Market with Adverse Selection," IZA Discussion Papers 12287, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Berardi, Nicoletta & Lalanne, Marie & Seabright, Paul, 2018. "Professional networks and their coevolution with executive careers: Evidence from North America and Europe," SAFE Working Paper Series 243, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    5. María Paz Espinosa & Jaromír Kovárík & Sofía Ruíz-Palazuelos, 2021. "Are close-knit networks good for employment?," Working Papers 21.06, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    6. Emre Ekinci, 2022. "Monetary rewards in employee referral programs," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 90(1), pages 35-58, January.
    7. Benjamin Lester & David A. Rivers & Giorgio Topa, 2021. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Referrals on Labor Market Outcomes," Staff Reports 987, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    8. Osman, Adam & Speer, Jamin D. & Weaver, Andrew, 2022. "Connections, Referrals, and Hiring Outcomes: Evidence from an Egyptian Establishment Survey," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 342-355.
    9. Glitz, Albrecht, 2017. "Coworker networks in the labour market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 218-230.
    10. Buhai, I. Sebastian & van der Leij, Marco J., 2023. "A Social Network Analysis of Occupational Segregation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    11. Arimoto, Yutaka & Machikita, Tomohiro & Tsubota, Kenmei, 2018. "Broker versus social networks in adverse working conditions: cross-sectional evidence from Cambodian migrants in Thailand," IDE Discussion Papers 686, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    12. Beugnot, Julie & Peterlé, Emmanuel, 2020. "Gender bias in job referrals: An experimental test," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    13. Moon, Ji-Woong, 2023. "Strategic referrals and on-the-job search equilibrium," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 135-151.
    14. Perihan Ozge Saygin & Andrea Weber & Michèle A. Weynandt, 2021. "Coworkers, Networks, and Job-Search Outcomes among Displaced Workers," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(1), pages 95-130, January.
    15. Lukas Bolte & Nicole Immorlica & Matthew O. Jackson, 2020. "The Role of Referrals in Immobility, Inequality, and Inefficiency in Labor Markets," Papers 2012.15753, arXiv.org.
    16. Hensvik, Lena & Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2013. "Networks and youth labor market entry," Working Paper Series 2013:23, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    17. Saygin, Perihan & Weber, Andrea & Weynandt, Michèle, 2014. "Coworkers, Networks, and Job Search Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 8174, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Martin Abel & Rulof Burger & Patrizio Piraino, 2017. "The value of reference letters," Working Papers 06/2017, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    19. Lena Hensvik & Oskar Nordström Skans, 2016. "Social Networks, Employee Selection, and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(4), pages 825-867.
    20. Guido Friebel & Matthias Heinz & Mitchell Hoffman & Nick Zubanov, 2023. "What Do Employee Referral Programs Do? Measuring the Direct and Overall Effects of a Management Practice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(3), pages 633-686.

    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:labeco:v:92:y:2025:i:c:s0927537124001581. 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/labeco .

    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.