A longer shortlist increases the consideration of female candidates in male-dominant domains

Lucas, Brian J., Berry, Zachariah, Giurge, Laura M. ORCID: 0000-0002-7974-391X and Chugh, Dolly (2021) A longer shortlist increases the consideration of female candidates in male-dominant domains. Nature Human Behaviour, 5 (6). 736 - 742. ISSN 2397-3374

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Abstract

Making it onto the shortlist is often a crucial early step toward professional advancement. For under-represented candidates, one barrier to making the shortlist is the prevalence of informal recruitment practices (for example, colleague recommendations). The current research investigates informal shortlists generated in male-dominant domains (for example, technology executives) and tests a theory-driven intervention to increase the consideration of female candidates. Across ten studies (N = 5,741) we asked individuals to generate an informal shortlist of candidates for a male-dominant role and then asked them to extend the list. We consistently found more female candidates in the extended (versus initial) list. This longer shortlist effect occurs because continued response generation promotes divergence from the category prototype (for example, male technology executives). Studies 3 and 4 supported this mechanism, and study 5 tested the effect of shortlist length on selection decisions. This longer shortlist intervention is a low-cost and simple way to support gender equity efforts.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Authors, under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
Divisions:	Psychological and Behavioural Science
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Date Deposited:	30 May 2022 14:45
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2024 00:44
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/115244

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