There is some evidence that gender differences exist in attitudes to and outcomes from negotiation. Evidence from the psychology and management literatures suggest that relative to males, females are less likely to initiate negotiation and in the event of negotiation, ask for and receive less. This paper examines the propensity of males and females to negotiate over pay, and its impact on the gender wage gap in a non-experimental setting. We find evidence that females are less likely than males to report the opportunity to negotiate in their jobs. However, conditional on the opportunity to negotiate, they are no less likely to actually negotiate. Further, while negotiation is associated with higher wage outcomes, females do not fare worse than males in the event of negotiation.

Negotiating the gender wage gap

Sun 15 Nov 2015 12:00pm2:00pm

Venue

Room 629, Colin Clark Building (#39)