Can AI close the gender gap in the job market? Individuals' preferences for AI evaluations

Abstract

Gender imbalances in the labor market continue to be an economic and social problem that could be reduced by artificial intelligence (AI), which is being promoted as a means for fairer and less biased hiring practices. To examine whether these supposed benefits of AI are perceived as such, we have investigated the preferences of individuals, particularly women, for an AI-based evaluation process in a competitive situation. The results of our experimental study (N = 152) show that individuals generally prefer a human evaluator over an AI evaluator—but only if the human evaluator is female. Whereas we demonstrate that women's beliefs in AI to reduce bias and perceived personal discrimination have a positive direct effect, we find no direct effect of the competitors' gender on women's preference for an AI evaluation. However, we find that the belief in AI moderates the other two relationships, which highlights the crucial role of people's general perception of AI tools in realizing AI's full potential and reduce anticipated biases. Our findings provide an initial indication that the use of AI technology in hiring could encourage women to apply for jobs in male-dominated fields and serve as a starting point for future research in this field.