Gender Differences In Networks Research Articles

Beyond Structure: How Men and Women Perceive, Experience, and Utilize Their Professional Networks

Social and professional networks are consequential for professional success because who individuals are connected to determines access to valuable resources and opportunities that facilitate career advancement. Problematically, there is evidence of gender differences in networks, which are thought to be a contributing factor to persistent gender gaps in the workplace. Evidence of inequality in the returns men and women experience even from equivalent network structures underscores the importance of going beyond structure to understand how men’s and women’s networks impact their experiences at work and their career trajectories. This symposium contributes to this growing area of research by bringing together four projects that speak to gender differences in how men and women perceive, experience, and utilize their social and professional networks. Who do men and women go to for help at work? Advice network homophily and task-level organization Presenter: Roman V. Galperin; McGill U. - Desautels Faculty of Management Presenter: Jennifer M. Merluzzi; George Washington U. The impact of a sponsor’s goal: Gender, goals, and cognitive network activation in sponsorship Presenter: Elizabeth Lauren Campbell; Rady School of Management, U. of California San Diego Presenter: Catherine Shea; Carnegie Mellon U. - Tepper School of Business Calling on ties when everyone is under siege: Gender, pervasive threat, and network utilization Presenter: Kristin Cullen-Lester; U. of Mississippi Presenter: Meredith Lauren Woehler; Purdue U. Presenter: Houston Floyd Lester; U. of Mississippi Presenter: Pol Solanelles; U. of Mississippi Unintended consequences: #MeToo, salience of accusations, and women's exclusion from networks Presenter: Ren Li; The Hong Kong Polytechnic U. Presenter: Kaylene McClanahan; U. of California, Los Angeles Presenter: Raina A. Brands; UCL School of Management

Scouting and Schmoozing: A Gender Difference in Networking during Job Search

Networking behaviors are a potentially important factor driving gender differences in social networks and contributing to the gender gap in career achievement, yet we know little about how and why ...

‘His’ and ‘Her’ Career: Exploring the Unexpected Consequences of Gendered Stereotypes

Although women are still overall more likely to experience career disadvantages relative to men at work, empirical analyses have shown how socialized and cultural expectations about gender in work settings can produce positive and negative career outcomes for both genders. This symposium offers novel insights on the conditions under which gender stereotypes can help or hinder careers in unexpected ways. Specifically, we bring together a set of five papers that examine how cultural beliefs about gender, gendered differences in social tie formation, and the gender composition of teams and organizations can positively and negatively influence the career trajectories of men and women. Identifying these consequences of gender stereotypes serves as a starting point for finding practical ways to promote gender equity and improve working conditions for both men and women throughout professional organizations. Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot: Gender Differences in Networks & Performance Following Mobility Presenter: Evelyn Ying Zhang; U. of Toronto, Rotman School of Management Presenter: Brandy Aven; Carnegie Mellon U. The Help-Seeking Paradox: Gender and the Effects of Career Re-Entry Assistance Presenter: Julia Lee Melin; Stanford U. A Fatherhood Penalty? Examining Fatherhood and Promotion Time in the Workplace Presenter: Maima Aulia Syakhroza; Cass Business School Presenter: Ming De Leung; U. of California, Irvine Distributions that Divide: Structural Predictors of Gender Pay Inequality Presenter: Mabel Abraham; Columbia Business School Presenter: Youjin Jenna Song; Columbia Business School Gender, Team Composition, and Career Attainment in Organizations Presenter: Elizabeth Linos; U. of California, Berkeley Presenter: Sanaz Mobasseri; Boston U. Questrom School of Business

Left but Not Forgotten: Gender Differences in Networks and Performance Following Mobility

This paper investigates how shifts in an individual’s communication network when the individual experiences a job change affect performance and how those effects differ between men and women. Using a rich proprietary dataset including the personnel records, monthly performance, and email communications of thousands of employees, we examine job changes occurring within a large financial institution. Comparing objective performance prior to and following each job change, we show that mobility is disruptive to individual performance, but that women’s performance is less hampered than that of men. We argue and find evidence that this variation in performance can be explained by women’s and men’s differential likelihood of retaining ties to former colleagues at their previous jobs. While women tend to be embedded in dense networks that may limit their advancement in times of stability, these same network patterns may also foster the retention of relationships to colleagues when women employees move to new jobs. Such “network resilience” offers multiple benefits that bolster their post-move performance. Our results contribute to research on mobility, social network dynamics, and gender by showing that network characteristics that are conventionally considered disadvantageous in the cross-section may help mitigate performance challenges when individuals experience job mobility.

The gender gap in job authority: Do social network resources matter?

Women generally have less job authority than men. Previous research has shown that human capital, family features and contextual factors cannot fully explain this gender authority gap. Another popular explanation holds that women’s career opportunities are limited because their social networks comprise less beneficial contacts and resources than men’s. Yet, the role of social networks has received little attention in empirical research seeking to explain the gender gap in job authority. This study examines to what extent gender differences in social networks exist and are related to the gender authority gap. Drawing on two strands of social network theory, we develop hypotheses about the role of network diversity and network status. We test these hypotheses using representative longitudinal data from the NEtherlands Longitudinal Lifecourse Study (2009–2013). Results reveal that women generally had less diverse occupational networks in terms of contacts’ occupations and were less likely to know managers than men, network features which are found to be significantly related to job authority. Controlling for these gender differences in networks leads to a reduction of the observed gender authority gap that is statistically significant but modest in substantive terms.

Scouting for Good Jobs: Gender and Network Mobilization in the Search for Managerial Work

This paper examines gender differences in job-search networking in order to better understand how women and men end up in different jobs. We find that in addition to seeking the same networking benefits as men do, women use networking – especially with other women – to seek out fine-grained, gender-relevant information about employers that might affect their career prospects, a behavior we term “scouting.” In Study 1, we use server logs to directly observe job-seeking MBA students’ outreach to alumni. Consistent with scouting, we find that female students reach out to significantly more women than their male classmates and to at least as many men. In Study 2, interviews with 46 MBA students reveal that women networked with other women in order to learn about gender dynamics in the workplace and about employers’ support for parenting, two topics that men rarely explored in their networking. We discuss the implications of our findings for our understanding of workplace gender segregation and gender differences in networks.

Entrepreneurs' Perceptions of Business Networks: Does Gender Matter?

This paper looks at perceptions of entrepreneurial networks and the gender differences in networking. Women's networks tend to be more limited and to focus on family and friends, whereas male entrepreneurs generally have wider networks. The results of the study indicate that female entrepreneurs have a significantly more positive attitude towards networking, especially once the business has been established. The main benefits of networks for both men and women are better business contacts, sharing knowledge, problem solving and social aspects. Female entrepreneurs also believe that networks can provide them with learning opportunities and enable them to develop management skills.

Gender Differences in Job-Related Networks

Despite the conventional wisdom that employed women suffer by dint of their exclusion from “old boy” networks, there has been little investigation of gender differences in networks and their implications for occupational outcomes. This article represents a first step toward incorporating network concepts into analysis of gender-based occupational inequalities. In it, I document differences between the job-related networks of women and men in a sample of recent job changers in four white-collar occupations. Women know persons in fewer occupations than men; their networks are negatively affected by having children younger than 6, and by changing jobs in response to their spouses' mobility;men's networks are unaffected by these constraints.