nep-hrm New Economics Papers
on Human Capital and Human Resource Management
Issue of 2025–04–21
four papers chosen by
Patrick Kampkötter, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen


  1. Job Amenities and the Gender Pension Gap By Iris Kesternich; Marjolein Van Damme; Han Ye
  2. Practical and Ethical Perspectives on AI-Based Employee Performance Evaluation By Pletcher, Scott Nicholas
  3. Team production and gift exchange By Marta Ruiz-Delgado; Adriana Alventosa; Miguel A. Meléndez-Jiménez; Antonio J. Morales
  4. How Tinted Are Your Glasses? Gender Views, Beliefs and Recommendations in Hiring By Hochleitner, Anna; Tufano, Fabio; Facchini, Giovanni; Rueda, Valeria; Eberhardt, Markus

  1. By: Iris Kesternich; Marjolein Van Damme; Han Ye
    Abstract: One reason gender pay gaps persist is that women receive more of their total compensation through amenities. Since wages, but not amenities, increase retirement incomes, this may translate into gender pension gaps. Using a discrete choice experiment we investigate whether the valuation for amenities changes when the trade-off with pension income is made salient. We find that women value amenities more than men. Beliefs about the effect of wage changes on pension income do not show large gender differences. However, women change their choices much more strongly than men when reminded about the effects of current choices on pension income.
    Keywords: gender, pension gap, amenities, work meaning, workplace flexibility, hypothetical choice experiment, salience, beliefs
    JEL: D91 J16 J26 J32
    Date: 2024–10
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_600v2
  2. By: Pletcher, Scott Nicholas
    Abstract: For most, job performance evaluations are often just another expected part of the employee experience. While these evaluations take on different forms depending on the occupation, the usual objective is to align the employee’s activities with the values and objectives of the greater organization. Of course, pursuing this objective involves a whole host of complex skills and abilities which sometimes pose challenges to leaders and organizations. Automation has long been a favored tool of businesses to help bring consistency, efficiency, and accuracy to various processes, including many human capital management processes. Recent improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) approaches have enabled new options for its use in the HCM space. One such use case is assisting leaders in evaluating their employees’ performance. While using technology to measure and evaluate worker production is not novel, the potential now exists through AI algorithms to delve beyond just piece-meal work and make inferences about an employee’s economic impact, emotional state, aptitude for leadership and the likelihood of leaving. Many organizations are eager to use these tools, potentially saving time and money, and are keen on removing bias or inconsistency humans can introduce in the employee evaluation process. However, these AI models often consist of large, complex neural networks where transparency and explainability are not easily achieved. These black-box systems might do a reasonable job, but what are the implications of faceless algorithms making life-changing decisions for employees?
    Date: 2023–04–28
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:29yej_v1
  3. By: Marta Ruiz-Delgado (Programa de Doctorado en Economía y Empresa, Universidad de Málaga); Adriana Alventosa (ERI-CES, Universitat de València); Miguel A. Meléndez-Jiménez (Departamento de Teoría e Historia Económica, Universidad de Málaga); Antonio J. Morales (Departamento de Teoría e Historia Económica, Universidad de Málaga)
    Abstract: We report on a laboratory experiment on team production when a principal decides, before contributions are made, how the team output will be allocated between himself and the team members. The allocation determines the marginal per capita rate of contributions. Despite free-riding being the dominant strategy, if workers perceive more generous allocations as a gift by the employer, reciprocity motives may increase contributions. We also explore the impact of communication on the employer's side. Our results show the presence of reciprocity, evidencing that the gift-exchange phenomenon is robust to team production. Regarding communication, we find that messages with a positive connotation significantly increase contributions to the common project.
    Keywords: public goods game, gift exchange game, communication, experiments
    JEL: C92 H41 D91 M52
    Date: 2025–03
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mal:wpaper:2025-1
  4. By: Hochleitner, Anna (Centre for Applied Research, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Tufano, Fabio (Dept. of Economics, Finance and Accounting, University of Leicester); Facchini, Giovanni (School of Economics, University of Nottingham); Rueda, Valeria (School of Economics, University of Nottingham); Eberhardt, Markus (School of Economics, University of Nottingham)
    Abstract: We study the gendered impact of recommendations at different stages of the hiring process. First, using a large sample of reference letters from the academic job market for economists, we document that women receive fewer ‘ability’ and more ‘grindstone’ letters. Next, we conduct two experiments — with academic economists and a broader, college-educated, population — analyzing both recommendation and recruitment stages. These confirm that recommendations are gendered and impact recruitment. We elicit gender views and beliefs about the effectiveness of different letter types, uncovering that gender attitudes and strategic behavior based on erroneous beliefs explain referees’ choices. Finally, we decompose gender recruitment gaps into two components: one capturing differences in treatment of candidates with identical qualities, the other reflecting recruiters’ failure to account for gendered patterns in recommendations. We show that recruiters’ failure to recognize the gendered nature of reference letters undermines visible efforts to improve diversity in hiring.
    Keywords: Gender; Recruitment; Diversity; Experiments
    JEL: A11 D19 J16
    Date: 2025–03–31
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2025_007

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