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Gender, Social Networks and Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Ilse Lindenlaub

    (Yale University)

  • Anja Prummer

    (Queen Mary University of London)

Abstract

This paper documents gender differences in social ties and develops a theory that links them to disparities in men's and women's labor market performance. Men's networks lead to better access to information, women's to higher peer pressure. Both affect effort in a model of teams, each beneficial in different environments. We find that information is particularly valuable under high uncertainty, whereas peer pressure is more valuable in the opposite case. We therefore expect men to outperform women in jobs that are characterised by high earnings uncertainty, such as the financial sector or film industry - in line with the evidence.

Suggested Citation

  • Ilse Lindenlaub & Anja Prummer, 2016. "Gender, Social Networks and Performance," Working Papers 807, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:807
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    Cited by:

    1. Lorenzo Ductor & Sanjeev Goyal & Anja Prummer, 2018. "Gender & Collaboration," Working Papers 856, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    2. Anastasia Sinitsyna & Karin Torpan & Raul Eamets & Tiit Tammaru, 2021. "Overlap Between Industrial Niching and Workplace Segregation: Role of Immigration Policy, Culture and Country of Origin," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 179-191.
    3. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti & Maria Jose Prados, 2015. "Gender and Dynamic Agency: Theory and Evidence on the Compensation of Top Executives," Working Papers 2015-004, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    4. Alessandra Colombelli & Elena Grinza & Valentina Meliciani & Mariacristina Rossi, 2021. "Pulling Effects in Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Does Gender Matter?," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 97(1), pages 1-33, January.
    5. Alessandro Manello & Maurizio Cisi & Francesco Devicienti & Davide Vannoni, 2020. "Networking: a business for women," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 329-348, August.
    6. Lorenzo Ductor & Sanjeev Goyal & Anja Prummer, 2023. "Gender and Collaboration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1366-1378, November.
    7. Friebel, Guido & Lalanne, Marie & Richter, Bernard & Schwardmann, Peter & Seabright, Paul, 2017. "Women form social networks more selectively and less opportunistically than men," SAFE Working Paper Series 168, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    8. Chika O. Okafor, 2020. "Social Networks as a Mechanism for Discrimination," Papers 2006.15988, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2022.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Networks; Peer pressure; Gender; Labour market outcomes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact

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