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Gender differences in advice giving

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2025

Elif B. OsunOpen the ORCID record for Elif B. Osun[Opens in a new window]
Elif B. Osun*
Affiliation:
Bates White Economic Consulting, Washington DC, USA
*
elif.osun@bateswhite.com
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Abstract

I experimentally investigate whether there is a gender difference in advice giving in a gender-neutral task with varying difficulty in which the incentives of the sender and the receiver are perfectly aligned. I find that women are more reluctant to give advice compared to men for difficult questions. The gender difference in advice giving cannot be explained by gender differences in performance. Self-confidence explains some of the gender gap, but not all. The gender gap disappears if advice becomes enforceable. Introducing a model of guilt and responsibility, I discuss possible underlying mechanisms that are consistent with the findings.

Keywords

Gender differencesAdvice givingGroup decision makingExperimentsC72J16C90

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 27 , Issue 5 , November 2024, pp. 1068 - 1105
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Economic Science Association 2024

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Footnotes

I am extremely grateful to Emel Filiz-Ozbay for her time, encouragement, and advice on this project. I am thankful to Billur Aksoy, Ian Chadd, Katherine B. Coffman, Keaton Ellis, Seda Ertac, Yusufcan Masatlioglu, Yesim Orhun, Erkut Y. Ozbay, John Shea, Neslihan Uler, and Ece Yegane for their very helpful comments and suggestions. I also thank the editor, the co-editor, and two anonymous reviewers for their very constructive and helpful input. I gratefully acknowledge the research support provided by Behavioral and Social Sciences Dean's Research Initiative Award, University of Maryland, College Park. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Bates White for the flexibility provided during the course of editing this paper. The opinions expressed represent only those of the author, and do not represent the views or opinions of Bates White, LLC or of other Bates White employees or affiliates.

The replication material for the study is available at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/SDFBE.

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