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Do “Little Emperors” Get More Than “Little Empresses”? Boy-Girl Gender Discrimination as Evidenced by Consumption Behavior of Chinese Households

Author

Listed:
  • Chen Lin

    (School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China)

  • Yuxin Chen

    (NYU Shanghai, Shanghai 200122, China)

  • Jeongwen Chiang

    (China Europe International Business School, Shanghai 201206, China)

  • Yufei Zhang

    (Collat School of Business, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35233)

Abstract

This research aims to demonstrate that the abundant marketing data that companies are using to explore new business opportunities can be an equally fertile source for uncovering an undesirable social attitude or behavior that may be relevant to firms’ business. Companies may benefit from this knowledge when developing innovative new programs that aim to benefit society, such as corporate social responsibility initiatives. In this study, we examine boy-girl gender discrimination in China as manifested in parents’ purchase decisions on behalf of their children across different markets. Our study in itself is significant, because it is the first large-scale empirical work to clearly verify the phenomenon of boy-girl discrimination, taking advantage of e-commerce marketing data. Specifically, we compare the clothing expenditures on boys versus girls using a rich, household-specific data set obtained from two online retailers. We find that the patterns of gender inequality vary systematically across different geographic markets, as the relative expenditure difference on boys versus on girls is bigger in less developed areas as compared with metropolitan areas, and this relative expenditure difference is closely tied with socioeconomic conditions, education levels, and birth rates of a district. Managerial and social implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen Lin & Yuxin Chen & Jeongwen Chiang & Yufei Zhang, 2021. "Do “Little Emperors” Get More Than “Little Empresses”? Boy-Girl Gender Discrimination as Evidenced by Consumption Behavior of Chinese Households," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(6), pages 1123-1146, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:40:y:2021:i:6:p:1123-1146
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2021.1302
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    References listed on IDEAS

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