Search results

Gender bias in artificial intelligence (AI) should be solved as a priority before AI algorithms become ubiquitous, perpetuating and accentuating the bias. While the problem has been identified as an established research and policy agenda, a cohesive review of existing research specifically addressing gender bias from a socio-technical viewpoint is lacking. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the social causes and consequences of, and proposed solutions to, gender bias in AI algorithms.

A comprehensive systematic review followed established protocols to ensure accurate and verifiable identification of suitable articles. The process revealed 177 articles in the socio-technical framework, with 64 articles selected for in-depth analysis.

Most previous research has focused on technical rather than social causes, consequences and solutions to AI bias. From a social perspective, gender bias in AI algorithms can be attributed equally to algorithmic design and training datasets. Social consequences are wide-ranging, with amplification of existing bias the most common at 28%. Social solutions were concentrated on algorithmic design, specifically improving diversity in AI development teams (30%), increasing awareness (23%), human-in-the-loop (23%) and integrating ethics into the design process (21%).

This systematic review is the first of its kind to focus on gender bias in AI algorithms from a social perspective within a socio-technical framework. Identification of key causes and consequences of bias and the breakdown of potential solutions provides direction for future research and policy within the growing field of AI ethics.

The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-08-2021-0452

Drawing on attribution theory, this study aims to examine how and when abusive supervision affects insubordination, focusing on employees’ attribution bias related to leader gender.

Two mixed-method studies were used to test the proposed research framework. Study 1 adopted a 2 (abusive supervision: low vs high) by 2 (leader gender: male vs female) by employee gender-leadership bias quasi-experiment. A sample of 173 US F&B employees completed Study 1. In Study 2, 116 hospitality employees responded to two-wave, time-lagged surveys. They answered questions on abusive supervision and gender-leadership bias in Survey 1. Two weeks later, they reported negative external attribution (embodied in injury initiation) and insubordination.

Hayes’ PROCESS macro results verified a three-way moderated mediation. The three-way interaction among abusive supervision, leader gender and gender-leadership bias affects external attribution, increasing insubordination. Employees with high leader–gender bias working under female leaders make more external attribution and engage in subsequent insubordination in the presence of abusive supervision.

This study is one of the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that examines the mediating role of external attribution of abusive supervision. Second, this research explains the gender glass ceiling by examining employees’ attribution bias against female leaders.

This study aims to contribute to the literature on board gender diversity by soliciting university students' views on several perceptions raised by academics concerning the suitability of women to serve on corporate boards. In particular, if the opinions of male students differ from those of female students, this showing any gender bias.

The study is part of a much more comprehensive investigation into board gender diversity. It adopts a questionnaire approach, with this paper focussing on twelve research statements. Two hundred and ninety-six university students completed the questionnaires at a public university in the Czech Republic during March–April 2023. A pilot questionnaire was conducted in February 2023, resulting in minor changes being made. The data is analysed using SPSS and MedCalc® statistical software.

Whilst, in some respects, it supports the literature in relation to the observations highlighted in the research statements concerning female traits/characteristics, there is unmistakable evidence of gender bias in the respondents' opinions regarding the qualities women can bring to corporate boards. Overall, this research shows a negative bias by male respondents towards the positive attributes females can bring to the boardroom. This bias may influence the selection of female directors in the future. This research suggests that the apparent discrimination against women is not just because they are female but from a perceived mismatch between inferred female characteristics and male stereotype leadership requirements. There is, however, no gender bias with respect to students' leadership aspirations.

The findings of this research should help with policy-making decisions concerning the selection of future corporate board directors and help break down any negative gender selection bias. The paper adds to the discussion and debate about ethical issues related to business and broader society concerning gender diversity in senior management roles. It also adds to the political debate on the issue of legislative gender initiatives.

The research respondents' perceptions may well influence the decision-making process for the selection of future corporate directors. Whilst these current perceptions may, and invariably will, change over time, it is important to identify them at an early stage in the respondents' careers. This research gives a better understanding of the perceived qualities that women bring to corporate boards from an inexperienced perspective.

This paper aims to critically reflect on current leadership development programmes (LDPs) and their potential in addressing the issue of women’s under-representation in leadership positions. To this end, this paper queries the current processes through which employees are selected to participate in LDPs as well as how these programmes are designed.

Drawing on Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach, this conceptual paper draws attention to the pitfalls of current organisational practices aimed at women’s leadership development.

The introduction of gender quotas and the implementation of women-only LDPs are unlikely to address the persistent gender leadership gap. Instead, these practices are likely to intensify the negative effects of second-generation gender bias and perpetuate the issue of gender inequality and inequity in the workplace.

This paper critiques contemporary organisational practices aimed at women’s leadership development and suggests alternative practices which are more likely to respond to the issue of women’s under-representation in leadership positions.

The Women in Leadership Development (WLD) Initiative is a year-long, multifaceted co-curricular leadership development opportunity created to support the unique developmental needs of emerging women leaders. WLD was intentionally designed around the context of second-generation gender bias with a firm grounding of research and theory on gender and leadership.

Organized around three leadership pathways – leadership training, leadership coaching, and leadership support networks – WLD brings together the best practices of leadership development in combination with feminist pedagogy and critical perspectives to foster meaningful and impactful development of women leaders.

This paper describes the design of the initiative and how each leadership pathway supports the leadership development journey for emerging women leaders. It provides a model that is impactful as well as foundational, for undergraduate women’s leadership development.

Women leaders, in particular, can benefit from leadership development that takes gender into account (DeFrank-Cole & Tan, 2022a; Ely et al., 2011).

The objective of this paper is to explore how anchoring affects the dynamics of investor decision-making with regard to mutual funds and how this bias differs amongst gender and level of financial knowledge.

An experimental research design was adopted to uncover the relationship between the variables under study; this involved the use of a questionnaire with an embedded experiment. Data obtained from the study were analysed using Pearson's chi-square test and two-way analysis of variance.

The findings show that, overall, investors were prone to be significantly influenced by the anchoring bias. The study finds a strong, albeit not significant, association between participants' susceptibility to anchor and both gender and the level of financial knowledge of participants. Females were observed to be more likely to anchor than their male counterparts. Also, a higher level of financial knowledge did not help to reduce the possibility of anchoring; it rather increased it.

The findings of the study cannot be interpreted as suggesting causality as the study only tests for association between variables and not causality. Additionally, external validity cannot be fully established as a result of the quasi-experiment approach used.

The study adds to the body of knowledge on the influences of behavioural biases in the sub-region to make investors aware of their biases in order to minimise the influence of these biases on their investment decisions.

This study differs from earlier studies in that it analyses the presence of anchoring as influenced by a completely different set of variables (expertise and gender) and also does it within the context of an African country where there remains a paucity of research on behavioural finance.

This paper shows that Amartya Sen admitted self-sacrifice as an opposite motive to self-interest. Between the eighties and the nineties, in his works on development economics, Sen often referred to the conditions of women in less developed countries, because these are areas where gender inequality is more pronounced, and women’s well-being is worsened by behavior motivated by self-sacrifice. But these women were affected by a perception bias that made them unable to understand their deprived condition. Perception bias made it harder to improve their freedom and reduce inequality. Sen offered a more complex analysis of economic behavior as compared to his contemporaries. Selfishness and public discussion might be identified as the ideal methods of improving individual well-being when inequality and perception bias leads people to self-sacrifice.

IT security compliance is critical to the organization’s success, and such compliance depends largely on IT leadership. Considering the prevalence of unconscious gender biases and stereotyping at the workplace and growing female leadership in IT, the authors examine how the internalization of stereotype beliefs, in the form of the employee’s gender, impacts the relationships between leadership characteristics and IT security compliance intentions.

A controlled experiment using eight different vignettes manipulating Chief Information Officer (CIO) gender (male/female), Information Technology (IT) expertise (low/high) and leadership style (transactional/transformational) was designed in Qualtrics. Data were gathered from MTurk workers from all over the US.

The findings suggest that both CIOs' and employees' gender play an important role in how IT leadership characteristics – perceived expertise and leadership style – influence the employees' intentions and reactance to comply with CIO security recommendations.

This study's findings enrich the security literature by examining the role of leadership styles on reactance and compliance intentions. They also provide important theoretical implications based on gender stereotype theory alone: First, the glass ceiling effects can be witnessed in how men and women employees demonstrate prejudice against women CIO leaders through their reliance on perceived quadratic CIO IT expertise in forming compliance intentions. Secondly, this study's findings related to gender role internalization show men and women have a prejudice against gender-incongruent roles wherein women employees are least resistive to transactional male CIOs, and men employees are less inclined to comply with transactional female CIOs confirm the findings related to gender internationalization from Hentschel et al. (2019).

This study highlights the significance of organizations and individuals actively promoting gender equality and fostering environments that recognize women's achievements. It also underscores the importance of educating men and women about the societal implications of stereotyping gender roles that go beyond the organizational setting. This research demonstrates that a continued effort is required to eradicate biases stemming from gender stereotypes and foster social inclusion. Such efforts can positively influence how upcoming IT leaders and employees internalize gender-related factors when shaping their identities.

This study shows that more work needs to be done to eliminate gender stereotype biases and promote social inclusion to positively impact how future IT leaders and employees shape their identities through internalization.

This study redefines the concept of “sticky floors” to explain how subordinates can hinder and undermine female leaders, thereby contributing to the glass ceiling effect. In addition, the study elucidates how gender roles shape employees' responses to different leadership styles through gender stereotyping and internalization.

In Brazil, over 4.7 million women enrolled in university in the year 2017. However, Brazilian women have been consistently overrepresented in humanities and care majors and underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Given that observed gender differences in math-intensive fields have lasting effects on gender inequality in the labor market, and that observed gender variations do not necessarily associate with differences in innate ability, in this paper we explore the paths of societal gender bias and gender differences in a Brazilian university.

We conduct a social experiment at a University in Southeastern Brazil, applying the gender-STEM Implicit Association Test.

We found that women in STEM are less likely to show gender-STEM implicit stereotypes, compared to women in humanities. The results indicate a negative correlation between implicit gender stereotyping and the choice of math-intensive majors by women.

The stereotype-congruent results are indicative of the gender bias in Brazilian society, and suggest that stereotypes created at early stages in life are directly related to future outcomes that reinforce gender disparities in Brazil, which can be observed in career choices.

Following Goldberg’s paradigm, this study aims to investigate whether women and men are at risk of differential treatment by HR professionals in recruitment and dismissal processes and focuses on the impact of exogenous factors, such as discrimination and gender norms.

A total of 155 individuals with experience as HR professionals participated in a randomised vignette study. In Task 1, they evaluated three applicants (all three either men or women) for the post of regional sales manager based on the applicant’s competences, hireability, likeability and proposed salary. In Task 2, participants were asked to select one of the six employees for dismissal and provide a rationale for their choice.

In Task 1, female applicants were offered significantly lower salaries than male applicants. In addition, average and low-performing male applicants were assessed as less likeable than identical females. In Task 2, the willingness to dismiss increased when employees with frequent absences were presented as men.

By involving a sample of HR professionals, the study contributes to the literature and practice by highlighting the differential treatment of women and men in the labour market. While women are likely to experience direct discrimination in the form of significantly lower pay offers, men may suffer a backlash due to lower educational attainment and absenteeism. The findings suggest that the labour market situation for women is complex and affected by norms and expectations requiring men to behave in a masculine and career-oriented way.