Signaling Effects of Women's Quotas: An Analysis of Workforce Perceptions and Reactions
基于德国雇主-雇员匹配数据，研究员工对女性配额的认知如何影响其工作投入，发现法律强制会削弱配额的信号价值，对管理者有实践启示。
ABSTRACT Women's quotas are widely used to promote gender equality in organizations, yet little is known about how the general workforce perceives and reacts to them. Drawing on signaling theory, we examine employees' awareness of women's quotas and how it influences their reactions. Using data from the Linked Personnel Panel, a representative German dataset linking employer and employee reports ( N = 2270), we distinguish between signal awareness and signal interpretation to assess their distinct roles. Awareness differs systematically between women and men, with women more likely to correctly recognize whether a quota exists. At the same time, we observe substantial misalignment between formal policy and employee perception: 42.6% of employees fail to recognize an existing quota, and 30.0% believe a quota exists where it does not. Perceiving a quota is associated with higher work engagement among both women and men; however, this relationship is significantly weaker when quotas are legally obligated, indicating that external obligation reduces their signaling value. Theoretically, our study advances signaling research in HRM and diversity by showing that awareness is a critical precondition and that employees respond to quotas based on their signaling value. Practically, our findings suggest that organizations should actively ensure quotas are noticed and interpreted as commitments to gender equality, as complying with legal obligations alone is insufficient.