Unraveling gender norms: Social and personal norms in the preferential promotion of women

Manuel E. Lago, Margaret Samahita and Orla Doyle

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2025, vol. 115, issue C

Abstract: Gender norms are a major barrier to achieving equality in the labor market. This study investigates the role of gender norms on attitudes towards preferentially promoting women to senior-level positions. Using an information provision experiment (N = 1,360), we test whether providing information that targets social or personal norms influences attitudes and behavior towards promoting women. We find that respondents underestimate the overall level of support for affirmative action in the U.S. However, neither the social nor personal norm interventions were effective in changing attitudes towards preferentially promoting women. These null effects are precisely measured and do not result from an underpowered study. We find evidence that Republican respondents are less likely to promote female candidates when exposed to information about the increasing proportion of U.S. citizens in favor of preferential promotion policies, i.e., when we target social norms. These results suggest that customized interventions or legislative changes addressing norms may be more effective strategies than general informational campaigns.

Keywords: Social norms; Personal norms; Gender discrimination; Affirmative action; Survey experiment; Information provision (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J7 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:115:y:2025:i:c:s2214804325000035

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2025.102336

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