Monopsonistic discrimination, worker turnover, and the gender wage gap

Motivated by models of worker flows, we argue in this paper that monopsonistic discrimination may be a substantial factor behind the overall gender wage gap. Using matched employer–employee data from Norway, we estimate establishment-specific wage premiums separately for men and women, conditioning on fixed individual effects. Regressions of worker turnover on the wage premium identify less wage elastic labour supply facing each establishment of women than that of men. Workforce gender composition is strongly related to employers' wage policies. The results suggest that 70–90% of the gender wage gap for low-educated workers may be attributed to differences in labour market frictions between men and women, while the similar figures for high-educated workers ranges from 20 to 70%.     

Justice in the workplace: the centrality of social versus judgmental predictors of performance varies by gender

Men and women are said to perceive justice differently, with women proposed to be more concerned with relational issues and men focused more on material issues. In this study, the potential for differential effects of justice on performance by gender was analyzed across the four contemporary types of justice. Respondents were 265 male and 113 female occupationally diverse employees in a single organization. The results show significant differences in how men and women respond to the four justice types with only one – informational justice – acting similarly by gender. The differential relationships between each of the justice types and the outcomes by gender highlight the utility of the four factor approach to measuring organizational justice. Women were more interested in maintaining social harmony than men. The results appear to strongly support the use of the justice judgment model over the group-value model as a means of explaining the gender differences. Implications for management include the importance of informational justice both generally and within the performance appraisal process.     

Gender and organisational position: predicting victimisation of cyberbullying behaviour in working life

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate possible predictors of cyberbullying behaviour in working life by examining previously known predictors of face-to-face bullying as well as demographic variables such as gender and formal position in the work organisation. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on a random sample of 3371 respondents. The results show that a poor social climate at work predicted exposure to cyberbullying behaviour. The study also found differences related to gender and organisational position. While low support from managers was related to higher exposure to cyberbullying behaviours for men managers, men non-managers and women non-managers, this relation did not apply to women managers. For women managers alone, low support from colleagues was associated with exposure to cyberbullying behaviours. Further, only for women managers age had no protective effect of exposure to cyberbullying behaviour. These findings imply that men and women have different social experiences in terms of holding power in working life. As women managers are in a minority in working life, other factors may be involved in predicting exposure to cyberbullying behaviour for women managers than for the other three groups. This article contributes to the sparse knowledge on cyberbullying in working life by recognising triggering factors.     

Gender gaps across the earnings distribution for full-time employees in Britain: Allowing for sample selection

This paper investigates gender differences across the log wage distributions of British employees working full-time in 2005. The raw gender wage gap shows a tendency to increase across the distribution with a glass ceiling effect indicated. A strong relationship between high skilled, white-collar occupations and carrying out managerial duties with the glass ceiling effect is indicated in the data. After allowing for positive selection into full-time employment by British women, a substantially larger gender earning gap is found: the selection corrected gender wage gap is close to twice the raw gap across most of the earnings distribution. This selection corrected gap is found to be predominantly related to women receiving lower rewards for their characteristics than men. Indeed, the results suggest the gender earnings gap would all but disappear across the earnings distribution if women working full-time received the same returns to their characteristics as men working full-time in Britain do.     

Potential Unemployment Benefit Duration and Spell Length: Lessons from a Quasi-Experiment in Austria

The paper studies the effect of potential unemployment benefit duration on the length of unemployment spells in Austria. It takes advantage of a quasi-experimental situation, where potential benefit duration was extended in 1988 for elderly workers living in specific regions of the country. The empirical analysis shows that men react significantly to benefit duration whereas women generally do not. The quantitative impact is smaller than in comparable studies for the US and Germany. Furthermore, the impact of extended benefit duration is differentiated for short and long spells. Whereas for long spells higher impacts for men as well as for women are found, no unemployment-prolonging effects for short spells could be detected.     

Differences in work–family conflict: which individual and national factors explain them?

This paper contributes to cross-cultural literature on work–family relationships by testing not only hypotheses about the impact of work and family demands and gender at individual level on work–family conflict (WFC), but also at country level. Concretely, several theories commonly used in the literature (role conflict, boundary management and social support theory) are used to analyzed how national culture dimensions affects WFC. Using information about employee residents in each of the countries interviewed in the Second European Quality of Life Survey and also GLOBE dimensions of national culture, the paper shows that the relationship between work and family demands and WFC is universal and equal phenomenon throughout Europe. In line with gender role theory, demanding and stressing work have stronger effects on women’s WFC than on men’s. While opposite to it, household hours also have stronger effect on women’s WFC than on men’s. Moreover, the paper shows that national culture affects how people perceive work–family relationships. In line with integration/segmentation hypotheses derived from boundary management theory, uncertainty avoidance decreases WFC. Moreover, in line with social support, human orientation decreases the level of WFC, especially for men. Eastern Europe and Mediterranean countries have higher levels of WFC, while Scandinavian countries are those that have lower levels of WFC.     

A comparison of adverse impact levels based on top‐down,multisource, and assessment center data: Promoting diversity and reducing legal challenges

We compared levels of adverse impact (AI) against minorities and women based on three promotional decision methods for 428 associate store managers of a Fortune 500 retailer: top‐down appraisal (TDA), multisource appraisal (MSA), and an assessment center (AC). We found significant effects for race and minority status (favoring whites) but no significant effects for gender across all three methods. Comparisons were analyzed using two definitions of AI (four‐fifths rule and the Fisher Exact Test) with a selection ratio (SR) of .25. No evidence of AI was found against blacks for any of the methods. For Hispanics, AI was found under the four‐fifths rule for the AC. For women, the four‐fifths rule was violated using TDA. Results provide some partial support for the argument that diversity goals are more likely to be met using assessment centers compared to TDA when the preponderance of raters are white men. Our data also suggest that carefully crafted, job‐related, top‐down appraisal, combined with rater training, may be effective in facilitating the promotion of more women and minorities and reducing the probability of legal problems. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Management competencies of women business owners

Women owners of small business are known to be better informed about issues relating to starting their own business compared to their male counterparts. Women spend more time conducting market research and have historically spent more time accessing finance because of gender bias within the lending industry. Due to their previous employment history many women have better administrative skills over men which should translate to women having better basic business management knowledge and a higher level of basic business competencies. Research conducted on a sample of 270 business owners found that whereas women rated themselves as more competent than men on a number of issues when they first started their business, they were no more inclined than men to pursue further business skills development or training once they were actively operating their business. Further, both women and men believed that they gained sufficient managerial experience ‘on-the-job’ not to warrant professional assistance in most business competencies.     

Job satisfaction and gender: Why are women so happy at work?

By most objective standards, women's jobs are worse than men's, yet women report higher levels of job satisfaction than do men. This paper uses a recent large-scale British survey to document the extent of this gender differential for eight measures of job satisfaction and to evaluate the proposition that identical men and women in identical jobs should be equally satisfied. Neither the different jobs that men and women do, their different work values, nor sample selection account for the gender satisfaction differential. The paper's proposed explanation appeals to the notion of relative well-being, especially relative to workers' expectations. An identical man and woman with the same jobs and expectations would indeed report identical job satisfaction, but women's expectations are argued to be lower than men's. This hypothesis is supported by the finding that the gender satisfaction differential disappears for the young, the higher-educated, professionals and those in male-dominated workplaces, for all of whom there is less likely to be a gender difference in job expectations.     

Work–family conflict among Australian dual-earner couples: testing the effects of role salience crossover and gender

Drawing on identity theory, this study examined the extent to which the salience (i.e. importance) individuals in dual-earner couples attached to their respective work and family roles determined their partner’s experience of work-to-family (W-F) and family-to-work (F-W) conflict through crossover effects. Using matched surveys, data were collected from a sample of 94 Australian dual-earner couples. Consistent with our predictions, results supported couple-level crossover effects of role salience to influence each partner’s experience of W-F and F-W conflicts. In addition, the impact of crossover effects on W-F and F-W conflicts was found to be more pronounced for women than men. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

The interactive effects of leader–member exchange,gender and spouse's gender role orientation on work interference with family conflict

Based on social support and gender role theories, we examined the direct and interactive effects of leader–member exchange, gender and spouse's gender role orientation on work–family conflict. Survey data were collected from matched dyads from 185 dual-earner couples in Sri Lanka. The results show that leader–member exchange is negatively related to work interference with family. There is also support for crossover effects among couples such that individuals with spouses who have a traditional gender role orientation experience greater work interference with family conflict. Finally, there is a three-way interaction such that a spouse's gender role orientation moderates the relationship between leader–member exchange and work interference with family conflict differently for men and women.     

Elderly Female-Headed Households and the Decision to Trade Down

Results from the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics show that elderly women appear to be much more circumspect than men about making housing changes. Some of this apparent difference occurs because elderly women have low levels of financial assets. Elderly women also appear to be much more likely than men, when they do move, to dissave out of home equity. Yet what appears on the surface to be a gender difference in the decision to dissave in later life turns out upon closer examination to occur because of divorce and the event of widowhood.     

Absenteeism,Gender and the Morbidity–Mortality Paradox

Women are, on average, more often absent from work for health reasons than men, but live longer. This conflicting pattern suggests that the gender absenteeism gap arises partly from factors unrelated to objective health. An overlooked explanation is that men and women might have different preferences for absenteeism due to different attitudes to, for example, risk. Using detailed administrative data on absenteeism, hospitalizations, and mortality, we evaluate the existence of gender‐specific preferences for absenteeism and analyze whether these differences are socially determined. We find robust evidence of gender differences in absenteeism that cannot be explained by poorer objective health among women. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Women’s experiences of legitimacy,satisfaction and commitment as entrepreneurs: embedded in gender hierarchy and networks in private and business spheres

ABSTRACT

When a woman perceives legitimacy in her job as an entrepreneur from networks that are often influenced by the gender hierarchy that grants men higher status than women, she is encouraged in her job. What are the effects of gender hierarchy and networks on the legitimacy a female entrepreneur perceives and on her satisfaction and commitment to the job? A sample of 5997 female entrepreneurs in the developing world was surveyed for Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. They were found to experience legitimacy as entrepreneurs in their networks in the private sphere and the business sphere. Gender hierarchy constrains legitimacy more in the private sphere than it does in the business sphere. Legitimacy in the business sphere can fulfil the need to feel competent and enhance job satisfaction, while legitimacy in the private sphere can fulfil the need to feel related and enhance job commitment. The account contributes to a two-level contextualization of experiences: micro-level embedding in networks that are nested in macro-level embedding in gender hierarchy.     

Do Women Leaders Promote Sustainability? Analyzing the Effect of Corporate Governance Composition on Environmental Performance

In this study, we investigate the impact women leaders have on the corporate environmental strategies of organizations. Using a dataset of all Fortune 500 CEOs and boards of directors for a ten‐year period, we examine several aspects of gender in leadership on environmental strategy. Specifically, we test the impact of women CEOs, the proportion of women on the BOD, the number of interlinks women board members hold, and the interactive and cumulative effects of women CEOs and gender diverse boards. Findings suggest that firms characterized by gender diverse leadership teams are more effective than other firms at pursuing environmentally friendly strategies. This study contributes to research on corporate governance and environmental performance by showing how the gender composition of leaders affects corporate practice. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

What if the supervisor has a different gender? The roles of value fit,identification, and beliefs in gender equality

In the past decades, the number of female employees and managers has strongly increased in most developed countries. This demographic development emphasizes the importance to investigate gender dissimilarity between employees and their supervisor and how it can be managed to elicit beneficial gender dissimilarity effects on employees’ attitudes and interpersonal interactions. Past gender dissimilarity research often assumes women and men to have different values. Due to these value differences, women and men should be less satisfied with a supervisor who has a different gender. However, past research reported inconsistent gender dissimilarity effects on employees’ satisfaction and other work-related satisfaction variables. To clarify gender dissimilarity effects on employees’ satisfaction with their supervisor, we analyze the moderating role of an employee’s beliefs in gender equality. We further draw on social identity theory and investigate value fit with the supervisor and identification with the supervisor as underlying mechanisms of gender dissimilarity effects. To test our research model, we conducted a three-wave survey study with 463 employees. Value fit and identification with the supervisor mediated the relationship between gender dissimilarity and employees’ satisfaction with supervisor. This indirect relationship was only significant for employees with low beliefs in gender equality. This means high beliefs in gender equality can offset dysfunctional gender dissimilarity effects.     

Research on gender structure of accounting profession in China

One of the most striking phenomena in recent years has been the increasing proportion of women in the labour force, enabling women in many fields to use their potential and to achieve economic independence. So the gender structure analysis becomes more and more important to society and economic development. Accounting research lacks the study of gender issues. This paper intends to summarize the gender structure of accounting profession in China, and aims to explore the critical factors such as economic system of government, traditional characteristics of women, glass ceiling and psychological factors which take a great influence on the gender structure of accounting profession. A conclusion can be made that the proportion of women participation in accounting profession is higher than men, but the majority of senior accounting professionals in China are still men.     

Executive compensation and gender: S&;P 1500 listed firms

We examine if a gender gap persists in executive compensation and if the composition and the determinants of executive compensation for men versus women are the same for the S&P1500 listed firms during the period from 1992 to 2004. This analysis is also extended to high tech firms, where high scholarship is required both for male and female executives. The results reveal that the gender gap in executive compensation is reducing essentially after the year 2000. Also, the factors that explain the variation in executive compensation are not all the same for men and women. However, firms continue to pay women, who are considered more risk averse than men, a similar proportion of risky compensation components, such as stock options and restricted stocks, than they pay to men. In terms of technology firms, we find that the gender differences in total compensation are not statistically significant. Our study offers insight into recent data for executive compensation. The finding that the gender gap diminishes is a sign of a better functioning market for executives. Our findings could be potentially useful for compensation committees in order to develop compensation packages that take into consideration the degree of risk aversion in order to enhance performance. Compensation adjusted for risk aversion can produce a higher level of satisfaction for the employees and can lead to better performances. Future research should focus on international comparison of various dimensions of executive compensation.     

Gender,family and career in the era of boundarylessness: determinants and effects of intra- and inter-organizational mobility

Changes in patterns of long-term employment make understanding the determinants of different career forms increasingly important to careers research. At the same time, the rise of dual-earner families demands greater attention to the ways in which gender and family characteristics shape careers than has been paid by traditional research. This paper addresses these issues, examining the determinants and consequences of intra-organizational and inter-organizational mobility, using a sample of employees from dual-earner couples. We find significant gender differences in these different types of career mobility, and in the effect of family relations on different forms of mobility. Women experience more inter-organizational mobility, while men experience more intraorganizational mobility. Having more children positively influences men's intra-organizational mobility, but increases inter-organizational mobility for women. Marital instability increases intra-organizational mobility among women, but has no effect among men. Each form of mobility has distinctive effects on objective and subjective indicators of career success for both men and women. Moving between organizations tends to depress earnings, but has no effect on how successful people feel in their careers. Job changes within an organization increase earnings, but have a negative effect on perceived success.     

Can digital financial inclusion promote female entrepreneurship? Evidence and mechanisms

Female entrepreneurship is important for business and economic development. However, women face greater obstacles than men in accessing financing and information, making it more difficult for them to engage in entrepreneurship. This paper examines the impact of digital financial inclusion on female entrepreneurship by using a national sample consisting of matched data from a digital financial inclusion index and a nationally representative survey. The results show that digital financial inclusion significantly promotes women’s entrepreneurial behavior. We find that digital financial inclusion can ease women’s financing constraints and provide business information to alleviate their information constraints. Furthermore, the development of digital financial inclusion improves women’s work flexibility, inspiring them to engage in entrepreneurship. In addition, digital financial inclusion has a greater effect on entrepreneurship among vulnerable women, such as those with less education or a lack of financial autonomy and those living in areas with high gender inequality, which supports the idea that digital financial inclusion can empower women.