Setting Higher Referral Targets Increases the Number of Women Recommended: Evidence From the Field and Lab

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Rai, Aneesh; Kirgios, Erika L.; Lucas, Brian J.; Milkman, Katherine L.
• 署名单位: University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; University of Chicago; Cornell University; University of Pennsylvania
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0001373
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: gender stereotypes; self-efficacy; goal; diversity; metaanalysis; BACKLASH; RISK; BIAS; performance; EMPLOYMENT

摘要

Women continue to be underrepresented in numerous occupations and in the highest echelons of many organizations. This may be due, in part, to disadvantages they face in referral-based hiring and promotion processes, as women are less inclined to ask for referrals and less likely to be referred than men for male-dominated jobs. We integrate insights from the goal-setting and creativity literatures to propose an intervention to boost referrals of women: requesting a greater target number of referrals (e.g., at least four instead of at least two referrals). This strategy sets a motivating goal to provide more referrals, which should mechanically increase the number of women referred. In addition, requesting more referrals in male-dominated contexts may lead to prototype divergence, which should increase the rate at which women are referred as people generate additional recommendations. Across two primary studies (a field experiment and an online experiment) and four supplemental studies (another field experiment and three online experiments; all preregistered, total N = 12,615), requesting double the number of referrals increased the number of women referred by 17%-88%. We found evidence that setting more ambitious referral goals mediated the effect of asking for more referrals on the number of women referred, supporting a goals-based account. However, we found inconsistent support for prototype divergence as a mechanism across our studies. Our work establishes a theoretically motivated intervention organizations can use to bolster women's representation in recruitment pipelines in male-dominated settings, and our full-cycle approach establishes its generalizability across contexts.