Gender Homophily in Job Referrals: Evidence From a Field Study Among University Students

We conduct a field study at a Swedish business school to investigate gender homophily in job referrals. In the study, 454 participants were asked to refer another student at the school for a real job. We find strong evidence of gender homophily among both men and women: Almost three out of four students refer a candidate of their own gender. The gender composition of friendship networks appears as an important driver of this pattern. Gender differences in the valuation and attribution of skills, on the other hand, do not seem to contribute to the observed gender homophily in referrals.

Keywords: Job referrals; gender; homophily; networks

JEL Classification: J16; M51; J24

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Hederos, Karin and Sandberg, Anna and Kvissberg, Lukas and Polano, Erik, Gender Homophily in Job Referrals: Evidence From a Field Study Among University Students (May 8, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4103637 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4103637