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How Tinted Are Your Glasses? Gender Views, Beliefs and Recommendations in Hiring

Author

Listed:
  • Hochleitner, Anna
  • Tufano, Fabio
  • Facchini, Giovanni
  • Rueda, Valeria
  • Eberhardt, Markus

Abstract

We study the gendered impact of recommendations at different stages of the hiring process, focusing on reference letters. First, we document that women receive fewer 'ability' and more 'grindstone' letters in the academic job market. Next, we conduct two experiments — with academic economists and a broader, college-educated, population — analyzing both recommendation and recruitment stages. These confirm that recommendations are gendered and impact recruitment outcomes. Gender views and strategic behavior based on erroneous beliefs explain referees’ choices. Importantly, we show that recruiters' failure to recognize the gendered nature of reference letters undermines efforts to improve diversity in hiring.

Suggested Citation

  • Hochleitner, Anna & Tufano, Fabio & Facchini, Giovanni & Rueda, Valeria & Eberhardt, Markus, 2025. "How Tinted Are Your Glasses? Gender Views, Beliefs and Recommendations in Hiring," CEPR Discussion Papers 20139, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20139
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Slonimczyk, Fabian, 2025. "This Candidate is [MASK]. Prompt-based Sentiment Extraction and Reference Letters," MPRA Paper 126675, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics

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