How high-status women promote repeated collaboration among women in male-dominated contexts

TL;DR

This study reveals that high-status women in steep hierarchies promote repeated collaboration among women in male-dominated fields, counteracting typical barriers and fostering gender-inclusive teamwork.

Contribution

It demonstrates that top-ranking women in steep hierarchies facilitate repeated collaboration among women, a dynamic not observed with top-ranking men, highlighting gender-specific leadership effects.

Findings

High-status women in steep hierarchies increase women's repeated collaboration.

Steep hierarchies with top women promote gender-inclusive teamwork.

Men's top status does not have the same effect on women's collaboration.

Abstract

Male-dominated contexts pose a dilemma: they increase the benefits of repeated collaboration among women, yet at the same time, make such collaborations less likely. This paper seeks to understand the conditions that foster repeated collaboration among women versus men in male-dominated settings by examining the critical role of status hierarchies. Using collaboration data on 8,232,769 computer science research teams, we found that when a woman holds the top-ranking position in a steep status hierarchy, other women on that team are more likely than men to collaborate again, as compared to when the hierarchy is flat, and compared to when men occupy the top-ranking position. In steep hierarchies, top-ranking women but not top-ranking men foster conditions in which junior women are more likely to collaborate again than junior men of similar status levels. Our research suggests that whereas status hierarchies are especially detrimental to repeated collaboration among underrepresented individuals, top-ranking women in steep status hierarchies mitigate these negative impacts between women in male-dominated settings.