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Gender bias in team-building activities in China

Yun Lou (Alibaba-Zhejiang University Joint Institute of Frontier Technologies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)
Xuanhui Liu (State Key Laboratory of CAD & CG at Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)
Pei Chen (State Key Laboratory of CAD & CG at Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)
Kejun Zhang (State Key Laboratory of CAD & CG at Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)
Lingyun Sun (State Key Laboratory of CAD & CG at Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)

Gender in Management

ISSN: 1754-2413

Article publication date: 13 July 2021

Issue publication date: 10 September 2021

704

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore how gender influences peer assessment in team-building activities in China.

Design/methodology/approach

A nine-player Werewolf game was adopted to conduct the experiment. Nine abilities were defined to evaluate players’ performances. Before the game, players filled out a self-assessment questionnaire (five-point Likert scale). After the game, players evaluated other game members’ performances using the same questionnaire. Data were analyzed using linear regression.

Findings

The results showed that gender bias clearly existed in team-building activities, with men more likely to receive better peer assessment than women. In addition, when women presented themselves as actively as men did, they received less favorable evaluations than men, whereas their failures were more likely to be exaggerated.

Practical implications

This study may help build harmonious teams for gender equality, and we give practical suggestions respectively from the perspective of female employees, their managers, and their companies.

Originality/value

Given the importance of team-building activities in teamwork, fair evaluations of team-building performances are essential. However, gender influences on peer assessment in team-building activities in China remain unclear. This study adds new and important knowledge to research on gender bias in teams.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank colleagues from International Design Institute, Zhejiang University, China, for helping us finish the Werewolf game experiment, and Anita Harman, PhD, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Editing China, for editing the English text of this manuscript.

Fundings: This work was sponsored by the Provincial Key Research and Development Plan of Zhejiang Province (No. 2019C03137) and the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation in the form of ZJU-SUTD IDEA Grant.

Citation

Lou, Y., Liu, X., Chen, P., Zhang, K. and Sun, L. (2021), "Gender bias in team-building activities in China", Gender in Management, Vol. 36 No. 7, pp. 858-877. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-04-2020-0116

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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