COVERING IN COVER LETTERS: GENDER AND SELF-PRESENTATION IN JOB APPLICATIONS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: He, Joyce C.; Kang, Sonia K.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2018.1280
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 1097-1126
• 关键词: PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS; FUNDAMENTAL DIMENSIONS; Impression management; SEXUAL ORIENTATION; status incongruity; women; stereotypes; BACKLASH; men; search

摘要

Despite decades of research and intervention efforts, occupation segregation by gender remains a significant problem. Although an emerging body of research suggests that female job seekers respond to anticipated discrimination in male-dominated jobs by choosing not to apply (i.e., leaning out), the literature on professional image construction and gender fluidity suggests another possible response to anticipated gender discrimination the deliberate management of gender impressions. In the current research, we theorize that job seekers respond to anticipated gender discrimination by managing impressions of their gender in ways to achieve more gender congruence when they apply for jobs. We employ a mixed-methods approach across four studies to investigate the motivations, techniques, and outcomes of managing gender in job applications for different kinds of jobs. We find that women, but not men, manage gender when applying to gender-incongruent (i.e., male-dominated) jobs by using less feminine language, and that, paradoxically, they are less likely to be hired when they do so. The current research contributes to the demand side explanation of occupation segregation and to our understanding of gender as a fluid social construction within organizational contexts.