Intervention(s)
Employers are shown information about two candidates (one female and one male) and asked to indicate which candidate they want to hire to come up with an advertisement slogan individually. The information includes the candidate’s fictional name, education level, work experience, and the slogan they produced (either individually or in a team). The gender of the candidate, and, in case of a team work evaluation, their co-worker's gender, is conveyed through virtual names and an avatar showing a silhouette of a man or a woman. Education is measured in three categories: “High School or less”, “Some College education”, and “College degree or more”. Experience is also measured in three categories: “Up to 1 year”, “1 to 3 years” and “3 years or more”. We tell the participants that we do not use workers’ real name.
We randomize:
1. Whether the slogan is produced individually or in a team. (Individual vs. Team treatment)
2. The gender of the co-workers of the candidates in the “Team work” treatment. In particular, we vary whether the employer chooses between (i) a male candidate with a female co-worker and a female candidate with a male co-worker, (ii) a male candidate with a male co-worker and a female candidate with a female co-worker, (iii) a male candidate with a male co-worker and a female candidate with a male co worker, and (iv) a male candidate with a female co-worker and a female candidate with a female co-worker.
3. Which information/instructions the employer observes (a “Baseline”-, a “Hidden gender”-, and a “Cognition” treatment). In the “Hidden gender” treatment, all information about the gender of the candidates (and, under the “Team work” treatment, their co-workers) is removed from the resume. In the “Cognition” treatment, before making their hiring decision participants are forced to reflect on the productivity weight they give to the candidate they hire and as well as their co-worker.
4. Whether the products are stereotypically male or stereotypically female.
To reduce the total number of treatments, and increase statistical power, the ``Hidden gender''- and ``Cognition'' treatments are only implemented under the ``Team work'' treatment for stereotypically male products. Further, all four combinations of candidate/co-worker gender are only implemented under the ``Baseline'' treatment for stereotypically male products.