Network Inequalities: Why Cohesiveness Hurts Women (and Helps Men) to Get Ideas Funded

Abstract

In order to work on and implement new ideas, idea creators usually need funding. Provided that there are limited resources, however, not every idea can and will be selected for funding. In this study, we explore in what ways the social network of an idea creator may influence idea funding decisions. For this purpose, we use data of and about research proposals which were submitted to a national science foundation by early-career scholars in 2014 and 2015. We argue that the benefits of network cohesion—a network structure where the contacts of the idea creator are connected to one other—depend on whether the applicant and idea creator is a man or a woman. Controlling for the reviewer-assessed quality of the research idea and its creator, we find confirmation for our hypothesis that the effect of cohesion depends on the gender of the idea creator: While men have a significantly higher likelihood of getting their idea funded when they have a cohesive network with few structural holes, for women the opposite holds true. That is, women are more likely to get their ideas funded when they have an open network with many structural holes. We discuss the implications of this finding for theory and practice.