Race, Gender, and Government Contracting: Different Explanations or New Prospects for Theory?
研究美国联邦机构中种族和性别代表比例是否影响政府合同授予少数族裔和女性企业，发现种族代表有正面效应，但女性代表无直接或间接益处，并探讨性别偏见等替代解释。
The U.S. Congress created the Small Disadvantaged Business ( SDB ) and Women‐Owned Small Business ( WOSB ) programs to promote fairness in government contracting. In this article, the authors examine whether increases in racial and gender representation in federal agencies correlate with the proportion of contract dollars awarded to women‐ and minority‐owned firms. Using the theory of representative bureaucracy as a starting point, they find evidence that increases in passive minority representation result in a larger proportion of contract dollars awarded to minority‐owned firms, which comports with previous empirical research. There is no evidence, however, that female representation leads directly or indirectly to substantive benefits for women‐owned small businesses. Given that the findings for women do not support representative bureaucracy, the authors provide potential alternative explanations. Specifically, they consider gender bias, social identity, and the “queen bee” phenomenon as possible explanations for why women are less inclined to advocate for other women .