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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Alexia Delfino; Miguel Espinosa |
| Abstract: | Large organizations often require employees to collaborate with others who may see the world differently. Yet, little is known about whether misalignment in personal values with managers or colleagues affects performance. Using survey and administrative data from a world-leading bank, we find that employees who don’t share their manager’s values perform worse, with a stronger effect in objective productivity measures than subjective evaluations. This result is not explained by diversity in demographics or misalignment with organizational values. The productivity loss going from the least to the most misaligned worker is nearly four times greater than the impact of having a manager of a different gender. Differences in values with teammates do not have similar performance consequences. We provide evidence consistent with a decline in both employee-led communication and morale when workers have values different from those of their managers. Our findings reveal the important but often-overlooked influence of diversity in personal values on organizational performance. |
| JEL: | M14 M51 M54 J24 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11690 |
| By: | Marie-Pierre Dargnies (University of Paris Dauphine); Rustamdjan Hakimov (University of Lausanne); Dorothea Kübler (WZB Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, CES Ifo) |
| Abstract: | The adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for hiring processes is often impeded by a scarcity of comprehensive employee data. We hypothesize that the inclusion of behavioral measures elicited from applicants can enhance the predictive accuracy of AI in hiring. We study this hypothesis in the context of microfinance loan officers. Our findings suggest that survey-based behavioral measures markedly improve the predictions of a random-forest algorithm trained to predict productivity within sample relative to demographic information alone. We then validate the algorithm’s robustness to the selectivity of the training sample and potential strategic responses by applicants by running two out-of-sample tests: one forecasting the future performance of novice employees, and another with a field experiment on hiring. Both tests corroborate the effectiveness of incorporating behavioral data to predict performance. The comparison of workers hired by the algorithm with those hired by human managers in the field experiment reveals that algorithmic hiring is marginally more efficient than managerial hiring. |
| Keywords: | hiring; ai; economic and behavioral measures; selective labels; |
| Date: | 2025–04–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:532 |
| By: | Celina Högn; Lea Mayer; Johannes Rincke; Erwin Winkler |
| Abstract: | This paper examines preferences for gender diversity among co-workers. Using stated-choice experiments with 5, 400 PhD students and university students in Germany, we uncover a substantial willingness to pay (WTP) for gender diversity of up to 5% of earnings on average. Importantly, we find that women have a much higher WTP for gender diversity than men. While the WTP differs by career ambition, competitiveness, and family preferences, we find that gender differences in traits and preferences cannot explain gender differences in the WTP for diversity. Our findings provide an explanation for differential sorting of men and women into high-profile jobs based on the share of female co-workers. |
| Keywords: | gender diversity, gender differences, preferences, willingness to pay, stated choice experiment |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J31 J33 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11732 |
| By: | Hoa Ho (LMU Munich); Maren Mickeler (ESSEC); SIlvia Castro (LMU Munich) |
| Abstract: | Organizations rely on peer-to-peer knowledge exchange among employees, yet incentivizing cooperative behaviors is a challenge. This study evaluates an intervention designed to encourage peer support in the largest bank in Uganda. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial, we introduced a public recognition incentive-awarding employees identified as the most supportive by their peers and supervisors. The intervention increases employees' willingness to help by 21% in expertise-sharing and 12% in mentoring. The incentive's effectiveness stems from its role in enhancing professional reputation and career prospects. A replication exercise in a second bank confirms the findings and the external validity of the results. |
| Keywords: | workplace cooperation; peer recognition; organizational incentives; knowledge sharing; field experiment; employee motivation; randomized controlled trial (RCT); |
| JEL: | M52 D23 J24 M54 C93 D83 |
| Date: | 2025–04–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:531 |
| By: | Mirjam Bächli; Rafael Lalive; Michele Pellizzari |
| Abstract: | Searching for jobs is challenging, and online platforms now often offer tailored job recommendations. In a randomized controlled trial with over 1, 250 participants, we evaluate recommendations based on prior experience or based on skill profiles assessed at study enrolment. We find that, on average, both types of recommendations improve job finding rates. Profile-based recommendations are particularly effective for individuals with limited experience and mismatch in the prior job, while experience-based recommendations may slow down job finding for those with limited experience but a well-matched previous job. These findings highlight the need to align job search advice with jobseekers’ skills. |
| Keywords: | jobseekers, online job search, job recommendations |
| JEL: | J24 J62 J64 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11702 |
| By: | Card, David (University of California, Berkeley); Devicienti, Francesco (University of Turin); Rossi, Mariacristina (University of Turin); Weber, Andrea (Central European University) |
| Abstract: | The gender wage gap rises with experience. To what extent do firm policies mediate this rise? We use administrative data from Italy to identify workers' first jobs and compute wage growth over the next 5 years. We then decompose the contribution of first employers to the rise in the gender wage gap, taking account of maternity events affecting a third of female entrants. We find that idiosyncratic firm effects explain 20% of the variation in early career wage growth, and that the sorting of women to slower-growth firms accounts for a fifth of the gender growth gap. Women who have a child within 5 years of entering work have particularly slow wage growth, reflecting a maternity effect that is magnified by the excess sorting of mothers-to-be to slower-growth firms. Many entrants change jobs within their first 5 years and we find that the male-female difference in early career wage growth arises from gaps for both movers and stayers. The firm components in wage growth for stayers and movers are highly correlated, and contribute similar sorting penalties for women who stay or leave. |
| Keywords: | maternity, firm effects, gender gaps, matched employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J00 J23 J24 J31 J38 J58 L13 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17860 |
| By: | Jun Honda |
| Abstract: | We examine how career concerns influence the behavior and mobility of financial advisers. Drawing on a uniquely comprehensive matched panel that combines employer-employee data with a longstanding national ranking, our study tests predictions from classic career concerns models and tournament theory. Our analysis shows that, in the early stages of their careers, advisers destined for top performance differ significantly from their peers. Specifically, before being ranked, these advisers are twice as likely to obtain a key investment license, experience customer disputes at rates up to seven times higher, and transition to firms with 80% larger total assets. Moreover, we find that top advisers mitigate the potential costs of their higher risk-taking by facing reduced labor market penalties following disciplinary actions. Leveraging exogenous variation from the staggered adoption of the Broker Protocol through an event-study framework, our results reveal dynamic sorting: firms attract high-performing advisers intensely within a short post-adoption period. These findings shed new light on the interplay between career incentives, risk-taking, and labor market outcomes in the financial services industry, with important implications for both firm performance and regulatory policy. |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2503.23763 |
| By: | Römer, Nathalie; Schröder, Marina |
| Abstract: | Written self-promotion is crucial in numerous decision-making scenarios, including job applications, securing funds for start-ups, or academic grant proposals. In two experiments, we study the effects of written self-promotion on decision quality and gender bias. We show that, if anything, written self-promotion slightly improves decision quality. Concerning gender bias, we find that self-promotion does not induce a gender bias that harms women. While women in our sample face adverse effects of written self-promotion due to lower performance beliefs, they can compensate for this disadvantage by applying a more modest writing style and by providing more informative written self-promotion. Finally, we show that the provision of self-promotion can mitigate pre-existing gender biases. |
| Keywords: | Gender bias, self-promotion, real-effort, experiment |
| JEL: | C9 M51 J16 D91 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-737 |