Leader Signals and “Growth Mindset”: A Natural Field Experiment in Attracting Minorities to High-Profile Positions
本研究与一家财富500强公司合作开展大规模自然现场实验，测试了多种轻触式方法吸引少数族裔申请高层职位，发现某些方法能缩小种族差距并将少数族裔申请率提高40%，且不降低多数族裔的申请率。
We conduct a large-scale natural field experiment with a Fortune 500 company to test several light-touch approaches to attract minorities to high-profile positions. A total of 5,000 prospective applicants were randomized into treatments that vary a small portion of recruiting materials. We find that self-selection at two early-career stages exhibits a substantial race gap. We then show that this gap can be strongly influenced by several treatments, with some closing the race gap and increasing application rates of minorities by 40% and others being particularly effective for minority women. These effects are not accompanied by any declines in application rates of majority group job seekers. In addition, we do not find that endorsing the “business case” for diversity reduces the race gap or raises application rates by minorities or women. The heterogeneities we find by gender, race, and career stage shed light on the underlying drivers of self-selection barriers among minorities. This paper was accepted by Yan Chen, behavioral economics and decision analysis. Funding: The authors thank the Brigham Young University College of Family, Home, and Social Science for generous research support. This research was funded in part by the Lowe Institute of Political Economy at Claremont McKenna College as well as the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship grant Nr. 190100252. Christina Rott thanks the School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, for research support through the Hermine Weijland Fellowship. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4909 .