When thinking back can hold us back: How being a follower can affect Women's loss-aversion

Austin Lee Nichols, Corey L. Cook

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Despite the persistent gender gap in many organizational leadership positions, researchers have not yet examined objective predictors of this gap. A fully crossed 3 (Role Prime: leader, follower, control) × 2 (Gender Prime: present, absent) × 2 (Sex: male, female) experimental design examined the effect of group role (i.e., leader or follower) and gender on loss-aversion. Participants (192 total; 96 female) were asked to name either their former or current leader ("superior") or follower ("subordinate"), compared with a no prime condition. Results suggest that women primed with a follower role were more loss-averse than men primed with a follower role, and were more loss-averse than women primed with the leader role or in the control condition. However, the role prime did not affect men's loss-aversion. The current research suggests that researchers and practitioners should consider the effects of group role on loss-aversion, as this may contribute to gender gaps in the workplace.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)400-406
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Experimental Psychology: General
Volume148
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Decision making
  • Gender
  • Leadership
  • Risk
  • Stereotypes

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