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Dare to ask in front of others? Women initiating salary negotiations

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  • Ren, Yufei
  • Xiu, Lin
  • B. Hietapelto, Amy

Abstract

Previous research has shown that gender pay differences in the labor market may be caused by women’s reluctance to initiate salary negotiations, which is often influenced by gender-related social norms and self-perceived gender identity. In the real world, others in work environments can know “who has asked.” In a laboratory experiment, we manipulated whether the decision to initiate salary negotiations was publicly observable. We found that in a context in which negotiation is not costly, women and men showed no difference in initiating salary negotiations. When asked to publicly express their willingness to negotiate salaries, a moderately lower number of women stepped up, an effect that was not significant for men. Furthermore, women tend to tie salary negotiation decisions to their self-perceived performance even when pay raises are not bound to performance. In contrast, men were not impacted by this factor.

Suggested Citation

  • Ren, Yufei & Xiu, Lin & B. Hietapelto, Amy, 2022. "Dare to ask in front of others? Women initiating salary negotiations," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:92:y:2022:i:c:s0167487022000629
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2022.102550
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    References listed on IDEAS

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