Customer Discrimination in the Workplace: Evidence from Online Sales

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kelley, Erin; Lane, Gregory; Pecenco, Matthew; Rubin, Edward
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research; Brown University; University of Oregon
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/733049
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: Gender wage gap; employment outcomes; field experiment; MARKET; constraints; extent; women; RACE

摘要

Many workers are evaluated on their ability to engage with customers. We measure the impact of gender-based customer discrimination on the productivity of online sales agents in sub-Saharan Africa. Using a novel framework that randomly varies the gender of names presented to customers without changing worker behavior, we find that the assignment of a female-sounding name leads to 50% fewer purchases. Customers also lag in responding, are less expressive, and avoid discussing purchases. We show similar results for customers around the world and across workers. Removing customer bias, we find that women would be more productive than their male coworkers.