Strength in Numbers? Gender Composition, Leadership, and Women’s Influence in Teams

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 2024
Volume: 132
Issue: 9
Pages: 3077 - 3114

Authors (4)

Christopher F. Karpowitz (not in RePEc) Stephen D. O’Connell (not in RePEc) Jessica Preece (not in RePEc) Olga Stoddard (Brigham Young University)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This article studies the effect of team gender composition and leadership on women’s influence in two field experiments. Study 1 finds that male-majority teams accord disproportionately less influence to women and are less likely to choose women to represent the team externally. We replicate this finding in a new context, where we also vary the gender of an assigned team leader. We find that a female leader substantially increases women’s influence, even in male-majority teams. With a model of discriminatory voting, we show that either increasing women's share or assigning a female leader decreases the penalty women face by more than 50%.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/729578
Journal Field
General
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-24