 Having it easy: Discrimination and specialization in the workplaceSacha Kapoor () and Arvind Magesan Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2019, vol. 166, issue C, 153-173 Abstract: Most studies analyzing worker adjustments to discrimination focus on sorting decisions, such as occupations workers pursue. We instead analyze on the job adjustments, focusing on the effects of discrimination by customers and managers. Specifically, we use observational and experimental data from large-scale restaurants to investigate the effects of the symmetry of waiter facial attributes on the trade offs they make, the extent to which the trade offs are shaped by consumer preference for symmetry, and whether the trade offs affect how they are treated by managers. We find customers have a preference for symmetry and that preferred workers consequently give them less personal attention. This allows preferred workers to serve more customers, generate more revenue for the firm, and more earnings for themselves. The large ensuing productivity and earnings differentials are facilitated largely by small differences in managerial treatment of preferred workers. Keywords: Beauty; Task specialization; Manager discrimination; Customer discrimination (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:166:y:2019:i:c:p:153-173 DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.08.019 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization is currently edited by Houser, D. and Puzzello, D. More articles in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization from Elsevier |
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