Abstract:
We conduct three different decision-making experiments to explore gender differences in labour market interactions. In our first experiment, participants are grouped in five, and are asked to play a corporate turnaround game. We rely on this game to explore: (1) if there are systematic gender differences in the willingness to lead and (2) whether followers are equally likely to follow messages from male and female leaders. In our second experiment, we use a principal-agent game to study gender differences in employment contract interactions between employers and workers. Employers are given the option to choose between a relational contract and a transactional contract. In our third and final experiment, we further explore gender differences in trust and reciprocity using a trust game. We find that, compared to men, fewer women volunteer to lead, particularly when the leader’s gender is revealed to the followers. However, we show that when leader messages and action choices are similar, even if not identical, groups achieve similar levels of coordination success regardless of the leader’s gender. We do not find evidence of systematic resistance to female leadership, even though such an anticipated backlash may be causing the female reluctance to lead. This suggests that the leadership gap in the workplace may be partially due to supply-side factors with fewer women volunteering to lead.