The Status Value of Age and Gender: Modeling Combined Effects of Diffuse Status Characteristics
ISBN: 978-1-78743-193-5, eISBN: 978-1-78743-192-8
Publication date: 12 August 2017
Abstract
Purpose
To determine the age at which influence peaks for men and women at work, then use empirical data to develop procedures predicting complex combining effects of diffuse status characteristics.
Methodology/approach
A survey experiment with a nationally representative sample is used to measure the age at which the status value of men and women at work reaches a maximum. Research results are then incorporated into equations adapted from current status characteristics theory (SCT) procedures to model the combined effects of age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, income, occupation, and beauty.
Findings
Analyses reveal that the status value of men and women reaches a maximum in middle age, and that women reach a maximum status value at work at an earlier age than men.
Research limitations/implications
This approach maintains core assumptions of SCT and uses ongoing research results to calibrate a model predicting complex combining effects of diffuse status characteristics. Limitations include the need to develop additional empirical constants to make predictions in new research settings.
Practical implications
Predictions from the model can be used in hiring situations to adjust for interviewers’ nonconscious expectations related to status characteristics of job applicants.
Social implications
The disadvantage for women at work that increases through mid-career helps to explain the continuing underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions. Awareness of the impact of socially valued characteristics like age and gender can help individuals respond more effectively to challenging social situations.
Originality/value
Extend the current SCT model to make predictions in contexts where people are being evaluated such as elections, hiring, and promotions.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a grant of $10,000 in respondent survey minutes from Time-sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences, funded by National Science Foundation grant SES-1628057, and conducted under the supervision of Arthur Lupia and Diana Mutz. Current PI’s are Jeremy Freese and James Druckman.
Citation
Lovaglia, M.J., Soboroff, S.D., Kelley, C.P., Rogalin, C.L. and Lucas, J.W. (2017), "The Status Value of Age and Gender: Modeling Combined Effects of Diffuse Status Characteristics", Advances in Group Processes (Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 34), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 81-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0882-614520170000034004
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited