IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/315853.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender biases in assistant professor recruitment: Does discipline matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Solga, Heike
  • Rusconi, Alessandra
  • Hofmeister, Sophie

Abstract

Higher education institutions have implemented various affirmative action policies aimed at increasing the representation of female professors, including measures to reduce gender bias in professorship appointments. This raises the question of whether gender bias still exists. Research on gender bias in assistant professor appointments remains sparse. We therefore examine whether gender bias in assistant professor recruitment exists and differs across disciplines (looking at mathematics/physics, economics/sociology/political science, and German studies). Our analysis is based on a factorial survey experiment with 1857 professors from German universities in 2020. We draw on Crandall and Eshleman's (2003) justification-suppression model to argue that gender policies can help suppress the expression of prejudices (negative stereotypes) against female applicants. Our results show that in all disciplines studied, female applicants receive higher ratings than male applicants, both for perceived qualification for an assistant professorship and for being invited for an interview. The female advantage is more pronounced in mathematics/physics when applicants are perceived to be equally qualified, suggesting a greater normative pressure to comply with gender-based preferential selection. In mathematics/physics, however, we also find a smaller premium for having received a research grant among female applicants. Overall, the observed female advantage is rather small in all disciplines studied.

Suggested Citation

  • Solga, Heike & Rusconi, Alessandra & Hofmeister, Sophie, 2025. "Gender biases in assistant professor recruitment: Does discipline matter?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 54(3), pages 1-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:315853
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105170
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/315853/1/Full-text-article-Solga-et-al-Gender-biases.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.respol.2024.105170?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heather Sarsons & Klarita Gërxhani & Ernesto Reuben & Arthur Schram, 2021. "Gender Differences in Recognition for Group Work," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(1), pages 101-147.
    2. Herschberg, Channah & Benschop, Yvonne & van den Brink, Marieke, 2018. "Precarious postdocs: A comparative study on recruitment and selection of early-career researchers," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 303-310.
    3. Martin Schröder & Mark Lutter & Isabel M Habicht, 2021. "Publishing, signaling, social capital, and gender: Determinants of becoming a tenured professor in German political science," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, January.
    4. Matthew B. Ross & Britta M. Glennon & Raviv Murciano-Goroff & Enrico G. Berkes & Bruce A. Weinberg & Julia I. Lane, 2022. "Women are credited less in science than men," Nature, Nature, vol. 608(7921), pages 135-145, August.
    5. Virgínia Silva & Maria Helena Santos & Miriam Rosa, 2021. "Does She Deserve It? The Influence of Gender and Meritocracy in Reactions to Affirmative Action Legislation," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
    6. Heather Sarsons, 2017. "Recognition for Group Work: Gender Differences in Academia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 141-145, May.
    7. Dan Su & Peter M. Steiner, 2020. "An Evaluation of Experimental Designs for Constructing Vignette Sets in Factorial Surveys," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 49(2), pages 455-497, May.
    8. Meg Urry, 2015. "Science and gender: Scientists must work harder on equality," Nature, Nature, vol. 528(7583), pages 471-473, December.
    9. Lutter, Mark & Habicht, Isabel M. & Schröder, Martin, 2022. "Gender differences in the determinants of becoming a professor in Germany. An event history analysis of academic psychologists from 1980 to 2019," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    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. Cory Koedel & Trang Pham, 2023. "The Narrowing Gender Wage Gap Among Faculty at Public Universities in the U.S," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, August.
    2. Manuel S. Mariani & Federico Battiston & Emőke-Ágnes Horvát & Giacomo Livan & Federico Musciotto & Dashun Wang, 2024. "Collective dynamics behind success," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Mario Fernandes & Andreas Walter, 2023. "The times they are a-changin’: profiling newly tenured business economics professors in Germany over the past thirty years," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(5), pages 929-971, July.
    4. Fischbacher, Urs & Kübler, Dorothea & Stüber, Robert, 2022. "Betting on diversity: Occupational segregation and gender stereotypes," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2022-207, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    5. 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.
    6. Baltrunaite, Audinga & Casarico, Alessandra & Rizzica, Lucia, 2022. "Women in economics: the role of gendered references at entry in the profession," CEPR Discussion Papers 17474, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Chauvin, Juan Pablo & Tricaud, Clemence, 2022. "Gender and Electoral Incentives: Evidence from Crisis Response," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12411, Inter-American Development Bank.
    8. Davies, Benjamin, 2022. "Gender sorting among economists: Evidence from the NBER," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    9. Bruns, Stephan B. & Doucouliagos, Anthony & Doucouliagos, Chris & König, Johannes & Stanley, T. D. & Zigova, Katarina, 2025. "The Delayed Acceptance of Female Research in Economics," IZA Discussion Papers 17649, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Jenny Bourne & Nathan D. Grawe & Michael Hemesath & Prathi Seneviratne & Maya Jensen, 2024. "The Disappearing Gender Gap in Scholarly Publication of Economists at Liberal Arts Colleges," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 117-134, January.
    11. Mike Thelwall & Subreena Simrick & Ian Viney & Peter Van den Besselaar, 2023. "What is research funding, how does it influence research, and how is it recorded? Key dimensions of variation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(11), pages 6085-6106, November.
    12. Marciano Siniscalchi & Pietro Veronesi, 2020. "Self-image Bias and Lost Talent," NBER Working Papers 28308, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Deepa Dhume Datta & Robert J. Vigfusson, 2024. "Measuring Inclusion: Gender and Coauthorship at the Federal Reserve Board," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2024-091, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    14. Emily C. Marshall & Brian O’Roark, 2023. "Journal Authorship by Gender: A Comparison of Economic Education, General Interest, and Fields From 2009 to 2019," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 68(1), pages 100-109, March.
    15. Alexander Kriwoluzky & Aderonke Osikominu & Doris Weichselbaumer & Georg Weizsäcker, 2022. "Evidenzbasierte Verbandsarbeit: der erweiterte Ethikkodex des Vereins für Socialpolitik [Evidence-based association work: The extended code of ethics of the “Verein für Socialpolitik”]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 102(2), pages 105-107, February.
    16. Rebecca Cassells & Leonora Risse & Danielle Wood & Duygu Yengin, 2023. "Lifting Diversity and Inclusion in Economics: How the Australian Women in Economics Network Put the Evidence into Action," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 42(1), pages 1-29, March.
    17. Laura Hospido & Carlos Sanz, 2021. "Gender Gaps in the Evaluation of Research: Evidence from Submissions to Economics Conferences," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 590-618, June.
    18. Davies, Benjamin, 2022. "Sex-based sorting among economists: Evidence from the NBER," SocArXiv zeb7a, Center for Open Science.
    19. Mancuso, Raffaele & Rossi-Lamastra, Cristina & Franzoni, Chiara, 2023. "Topic choice, gendered language, and the under-funding of female scholars in mission-oriented research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    20. MinSub Kim & Joyce J. Chen & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2023. "Gender pay gaps in economics: A deeper look at institutional factors," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(4), pages 471-486, July.

    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:zbw:espost:315853. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    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.