Ever hear that women and minorities are loath to promote their own kind?
A new study turns that premise on its head — and then some.
Although white males are now outnumbered by women and minorities two to one in the workforce, they still make up the vast majority of executives. For instance, among the CEOs of the Fortune 500, just 23 (less than 5%) are women. And only seven (1.4%) are black.
A recent study, to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management August 1-5, set out to uncover “the puzzle of why nearly all large U.S. organizations are controlled by white men,” the authors, David R. Hekman of the University of Colorado and Maw Der Foo and Wei Yang of the University of Colorado, Boulder, write.
“Economists are perhaps most disturbed by this phenomenon because orthodox economic theory would predict that it is suboptimal for society to select its top leaders from only 34 percent of the population,” they add.
They decided to explore previous research indicating that women and minorities are reluctant to hire members of their own groups and found that the reason is simple: They can be penalized for it.
