Gender Promotion Gaps and Career Aspirations

Ghazala Azmat (), Vicente Cuñat () and Emeric Henry
Additional contact information
Ghazala Azmat: Department of Economics, Sciences Po and CEPR, 75007 Paris, France
Vicente Cuñat: London School of Economics and CEPR, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom

Management Science, 2025, vol. 71, issue 3, 2127-2141

Abstract: Using a representative survey of U.S. lawyers, we document a sizeable gender gap in early partnership aspirations, which explains half of the later gender promotion gap. We further document that the correlation between aspirations and effort provides a “mechanical link” between aspirations and promotion. Early workplace experiences, such as harassment and demeaning comments, are linked to promotion aspirations. Moreover, early aspirations provide insight into eventual promotion outcomes that goes beyond what can be drawn only from expectations. Our study highlights that measuring aspirations and adapting the corporate culture that shapes them are key components for firms to improve workplace environments.

Keywords: gender gaps; promotion; high-skilled professionals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.00715 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Gender promotion gaps and career aspirations (2025)
Working Paper: Gender Promotion Gaps and Career Aspirations (2023)
Working Paper: Gender Promotion Gaps and Career Aspirations (2023)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:71:y:2025:i:3:p:2127-2141

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().