The Effect of Mentor Gender on the Evaluation of Mentees’ Independent Work
Prof. Karin Hoisl, Full Professor of Organization and Innovation at the University of Mannheim, will discuss how mentor gender impacts the evaluation of mentees' independent work.
Co-authors: Marc Lerchenmüller (University of Mannheim), Leo Schmallenbach (University of Mannheim)
As mentors, women and men are equally expected to advance their mentees' careers. However, in many contexts, women are still undervalued compared to men. This gender bias also applies to women mentors and may influence the evaluation of their mentees' independent work, i.e., work produced without their mentor. We explore two theoretical predictions regarding a relative evaluation discount for independent work produced by mentees of women versus men: the Matthew Effect and status characteristics theory, which differ significantly in their implications. Analyzing citations accruing to publications of comparable quality by scientists with prestigious early-career mentorship, we find a 13% citation discount for mentees of women compared to mentees of men. This discount extends from collaborative work to mentees’ independent work, regardless of the mentee's gender. Differences in the extent of this citation discount across groups of evaluators align with status characteristics theory rather than the Matthew Effect. The findings expose a consequential role of gender in mentoring the next generation with implications for research on mentorship, gendered evaluations and spillover effects, as well as transgenerational biases in cumulative knowledge building.
About Prof. Karin Hoisl:
Karin Hoisl is Full Professor of Organization and Innovation at the University of Mannheim. She is part-time Professor in the Economics and Management of Inventive Processes at the Department of Innovation and Organizational Economics at Copenhagen Business School and a research affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich. Karin Hoisl holds a PhD in Management from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Karin Hoisl is Associate Editor of the Strategic Management Journal. She is Associate Editor of ICC Industrial and Corporate Change, Member of the Editorial Review Board of Academy of Management Discoveries, and Advisory Editor of Research Policy. Her main research interests are knowledge management, labor mobility, organizational and individual creativity, as well as Intellectual Property Strategy. Her research has been published in Management Science, Organization Science, the Strategic Management Journal, and Research Policy.
About the Seminar:
Hosted by Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, these seminars feature visiting speakers on science, technology, and innovation policy. This event is in person for AMBS and UoM staff and students, with an online option available. Please feel free to share this invitation with your internal networks.
External participants are welcome to join online via Zoom, link to register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mioir-seminar-series-with-prof-karin-hoisl-tickets-998352648647
