Knowledge Teams, Careers, and Gender

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Joint with Cagatay Bircan and Tristan Stahl

Abstract: We use rich data on personnel records, work assignments, and performance from a financial institution to uncover the mechanisms that lead to promotion gaps in knowledge work. We find a substantial promotion gap for women, which emerges early in their careers and leads to under-representation of senior women. Bankers work in multiple project teams concurrently and take on team leadership roles occasionally. Analyzing over 10,000 investment projects, we find that assignments to the job of team leader, which provide visibility to the upper echelons of the organization, are crucial for careers. Assignments to these jobs are carried out by supervisors and favors men.