Researchers of Erasmus School of Economics, Assistant Professor Anne Boring and Associate Professor Josse Delfgaauw, demonstrate this with an experiment survey among workers from five male-dominated industries in France and in the United States. In both countries and, remarkably, among both men and women, the scientists document substantial social desirability bias. Managers exhibit a larger bias than non-managerial employees. This difference between voiced and real attitudes may make organisations overestimate support for diversity and inclusion policies in their workforce, rendering such policies less effective.
For the study 'Social desirability bias in attitudes toward sexism and DEI policies in the workplace' see the appendix.
About Anne Boring
Associate Professor Anne Boring joined the Economics department at Erasmus School of Economics in 2017. She is the head of the Woman in Business Chair at Science Po, Paris (LIEPP & PRESAGE), and research fellow at Tinbergen Institute. In 2021, Anne was appointed as a Research Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program of Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. In 2022, on the recommendation of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research and by decree of the President of the French Republic, Anne Boring was bestowed with the top French civilian honour of becoming Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, the Knight of the Order of Merit.
About Josse Delfgaauw
The research interests of Associate Professor Josse Delfgaauw include organisational economics and personnel economics. He combines theoretical work on the interplay between incentives, information, and firm performance with conducting field experiments in firms on the effects of incentive pay and feedback on workers' performance and well-being. His work has been published in among others Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Public Economics, and Economic Journal. He is also a research fellow of the Tinbergen Institute.
- Associate professor
- Associate professor
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For more information, please contact Ronald de Groot, Media and Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics: rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, +31 6 53 641 846.
