Gender gaps in salary negotiations: Salary requests and starting salaries in the field

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This paper provides new evidence of gender gaps in negotiation behavior and in subsequent outcomes from a unique large sample of high-stakes salary negotiations between recent college graduates and prospective employers. Although females state salary requests to a larger extent than males do, they ask for lower salaries, and are offered lower starting salaries also for the same request. These gender gaps are small, yet noteworthy considering the homogeneity of the sample. Notably, the study highlights the importance of negotiation behavior as accounting for females stating lower salary requests largely reduced or even closed the gender pay gap in subsequent starting salaries.