Gender Differences in Shirking: Monitoring or Social Preferences? Evidence from a Field Experiment

Arbeitspapier

This paper studies gender differences in the extent to which social preferences affect workers' shirking decisions. Using exogenous variation in work absence induced by a randomized field experiment that increased treated workers' absence, we find that also non-treated workers increased their absence as a response. Furthermore, we find that male workers react more strongly to decreased monitoring, but no significant gender difference in the extent to which workers are influenced by peers. However, our results suggest significant heterogeneity in the degree of influence that male and female workers exert on each other: conditional on the potential exposure to same-sex co-workers, men are only affected by their male peers, and women are only affected by their female peers.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 8133

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models ; Field Experiments ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: peer effects ; employer-employee data ; social preferences ; randomized field experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Johansson, Per-Olov ; Karimi, Arizo ; Nilsson, J. Peter
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/96790
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET