Abstract
We conduct a large-scale natural field experiment with a Fortune 500 company to test several light-touch approaches to attract minorities to high-profile positions. A total of 5,000 prospective applicants were randomized into treatments that vary a small portion of recruiting materials. We find that self-selection at two early-career stages exhibits a substantial race gap. We then show that this gap can be strongly influenced by several treatments, with some closing the race gap and increasing application rates of minorities by 40% and others being particularly effective for minority women. These effects are not accompanied by any declines in application rates of majority group job seekers. In addition, we do not find that endorsing the “business case” for diversity reduces the race gap or raises application rates by minorities or women. The heterogeneities we find by gender, race, and career stage shed light on the underlying drivers of self-selection barriers among minorities.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4953-4973 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Management Science |
| Volume | 70 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 INFORMS.
Funding
The authors thank the Brigham Young University College of Family, Home, and Social Science for generous research support. This research was funded in part by the Lowe Institute of Political Economy at Claremont McKenna College as well as the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship grant Nr. 190100252. Christina Rott thanks the School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, for research support through the Hermine Weijland Fellowship. The authors thank Rebecca Jack for excellent research assistance and express our appreciation to audience members at the seminars at University of Innsbruck, University College Dublin, University of Stavanger, and Advances in Field Experiments (ASSA) conferences. The authors are especially grateful to the Science of Diversity and Inclusion Initiative (SODI) for the research support. The project was approved by the Claremont Mckenna College institutional review board, and the study was preregistered in the American Economic Association Randomized Control Trial (AEA RCT) Registry (AEARCTR-0005011). The preregistration does not contain a preanalysis plan. Funding:The authors thank the Brigham Young University College of Family, Home, and Social Science for generous research support. This research was funded in part by the Lowe Institute of Political Economy at Claremont McKenna College as well as the Australian Research Council Future Fellow-ship grant Nr. 190100252. Christina Rott thanks the School of Business and Economics, Vrije Univer-siteit Amsterdam, for research support through the Hermine Weijland Fellowship.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Brigham Young University College of Family, Home, and Social Science | |
| Lowe Institute of Political Economy at Claremont McKenna College | |
| University College Dublin | |
| Universität Innsbruck | |
| Australian Research Council | 190100252 |
| Universitetet i Stavanger | AEARCTR-0005011 |
Keywords
- diversity
- experiment
- field experiment
- gender
- labor
- race