Women less inclined to self-promote than men, even for a job
Self-promotion is an essential tool for career advancement, whether in job or performance reviews, or just networking. But not everyone feels equally comfortable doing it. A new study suggests men are far more at ease with self-promotion than women, which contributes to a broad disparity in promotions and pay. According to a recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, women consistently rated their performance on a test lower than did men, even though both groups had the same average score. Where men on average gave themselves a 61 out of 100, women gave themselves a 46 out of 100. Even when told that an employer would use their self-evaluation to decide whether to hire them and what to pay them, women still self-promoted less than men. The paper’s co-author Christine L. Exley, a behavioral economist and assistant professor at Harvard Business School, spoke to the Gazette about what they...