Abstract
Underrepresentation of women in the academic system is a problem common to many countries,
often associated with gender discrimination. In the Italian academic context in particular, favoritism
is recognized as a diffuse phenomenon affecting hiring and career advancement. One of the
questions that naturally arises is whether women who do assume decisional roles, having witnessed
other phenomena of discrimination, would practice less favoritism than men in similar
positions. Our analysis refers to the particular case of favoritism in the work of university selection
committees responsible for career advancement. We observe a moderate positive association
between competitions with expected outcomes and the fact the committee president is a
woman. Although committees presided by women give more weight to scientific merit than
those presided by men, favoritism still occurs. In fact, in the case the committee president is
a woman, the single most important factor for the success of a candidate is joint research with
the president, while in the case of male presidents, it is the years together in the same university.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Research Evaluation |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 392-404 |
ISSN | 0958-2029 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Keywords
- Favoritism
- Gender
- Career advancement
- Bibliometrics
- Universities