Social Stratification, Welfare, and Social Policy Seminar, at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI).

Karin Hederos from SOFI presents "Gender Homophily in Job Referrals: Evidence from a Field Study among University Students" (with co-authors, Anna Sandberg, Lukas Kvissberg, and Erik Polano)

This is an in-person only event.

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Abstract

We conducted a field study at a Swedish business school to investigate gender homophily in referrer behavior. In the study, 454 participants were asked to refer another student at the school for a real job. We find that both men and women mainly refer candidates of their own gender: 72 percent of female participants referred a female candidate, and 75 percent of male participants referred a male candidate. The gender composition of friendship networks appears to be an important driver of this pattern. Randomizing participants across two job advertisements, we find suggestive evidence that the degree of gender homophily in job referrals is stronger when the job is more consistent with stereotypes associated with the participant’s own gender.