How prepared do I have to be for a job? : gender differences in the desire for preparedness
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- While some people jump into taking on a new challenge, others feel like they need to be more "prepared" before they take the first step. Such a desire to be highly prepared could hold one back from embarking on a new journey, such as applying for a new job. Is there a gender difference in how much people want to be prepared for a job before applying? In this dissertation, I systematically examine this phenomenon and seek a solution that could reduce the gender difference. Study 1a and 1b revealed that women wanted to have a greater level of job-related knowledge and skills before applying than men. Studies 2-4 explored boundary conditions for the gender difference in the desire for preparedness. Study 2 investigated whether women would believe other women should also be highly prepared. Women wanted a high level of preparedness for themselves but not for others, and the gender difference disappeared when people made judgments about others rather than themselves. Study 3 presented jobs in gender-typed and gender-neutral industries to test whether the gender difference varied across jobs in different fields. The gender difference was not significant overall, but both women and men wanted to be more highly prepared for male-typed jobs than female-typed jobs. Study 4 presented jobs that varied in level of career-related risk. Both women and men wanted to be prepared to an equal extent, not only when the job was explicitly described as safe, but also when it was described as risky. The difference was significant only when there was no overt mention of a risk involved. Finally, Study 5 tested a potential solution for organizations to reduce the gender difference. I presented job descriptions that portrayed the recruiting company as valuing either employees' learning, ability, or health (control). When the company valued learning, compared to health, women's desire for preparedness decreased, and the gender difference was closed. This research suggests that women may set a higher standard than men early in their career when they consider applying for jobs. Importantly, this work proposes a practical organizational solution that may equalize the psychological standing of women and men when they apply for a job and encourage women to take opportunities they might be well qualified for.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2018; ©2018 |
| Publication date | 2018; 2018 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Lee, Fiona | |
|---|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Dweck, Carol S, 1946- | |
| Thesis advisor | Dweck, Carol S, 1946- | |
| Thesis advisor | Gross, James J, (Professor of psychology) | |
| Thesis advisor | Walton, Gregory M. (Gregory Mariotti) | |
| Degree committee member | Gross, James J, (Professor of psychology) | |
| Degree committee member | Walton, Gregory M. (Gregory Mariotti) | |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Psychology. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Fiona Lee. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Psychology. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2018. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2018 by Fiona Lee
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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