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Gender Differences in Self-Promotion and Career Advice

Author

Listed:
  • Megalokonomou, Rigissa

    (Monash University)

  • Silva Goncalves, Juliana

    (University of Sydney)

  • van Veldhuizen, Roel

    (Lund University)

Abstract

We study the role of self-promotion and career advice in sustaining gender differences in labor market outcomes. We conduct a pre-registered experiment in which “advisers†advise “workers†to attempt either a more or a less ambitious task. We find that women promote themselves less than men and, as a result, are 12 percentage points less likely to be advised to choose the more ambitious task. This gender gap in advice persists across both quantitative and qualitative self-assessments and is robust to variation in advisers' information sets — including when advisers observe workers' actual performance — but is eliminated and even reversed when advisers are informed of the gender gap in self-promotion.

Suggested Citation

  • Megalokonomou, Rigissa & Silva Goncalves, Juliana & van Veldhuizen, Roel, 2026. "Gender Differences in Self-Promotion and Career Advice," IZA Discussion Papers 18777, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18777
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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