Is there a Premium for Expressing Confidence? Evidence from Medical Consultants

Speaker: Dr Boon Han Koh

Affiliation: University of Exeter 

Location: Room 216, Michie Building (#09), St Lucia Campus

Zoom: https://uqz.zoom.us/j/82603079317

Abstract: Gender biases can shape career trajectories, contributing to persistent gender gaps in labour market outcomes. In many professions, senior workers assess the progress of junior colleagues, and these evaluations may be influenced by gender-based stereotypes. In collaboration with Regional Anaesthesia United Kingdom, we study whether medical consultants assess trainees’ competency and readiness for independent practice differently based on gender. To investigate this, we conduct a randomized vignette experiment in which consultants evaluate trainees under varying conditions, including confidence level, prior experience, procedural outcome, and gender. After observing an interaction between a trainee and a consultant in the vignette, consultants provide their assessments of the trainee’s performance. Our results reveal a confidence premium, such that trainees who come across as more confident receive more favourable treatment, specifically, less direct supervision, holding everything else constant. Confidence also affects how outcomes are evaluated. We observe a gender difference with confident women being penalized less than unconfident women for failures and confident men being rewarded more than unconfident men for successes. Thus, confidence benefits women when they fail and men when they succeed.