Research seminar: Livia Alfonsi (Harvard Business School)

We would like to invite you to a research seminar by Livia Alfonsi, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Title: *Whom Would You Rather Work With? A Field Experiment on Referral Gaps and Occupational Segregation*

Authors: Livia Alfonsi (Harvard Business School), Pedro de Souza Ferreira (Harvard Kennedy School)

Abstract: Employee referrals dominate hiring, yet may perpetuate segregation. We present the first correspondence-style field experiment with workers in urban Uganda to disentangle the role of network homophily from employees’ own beliefs, testing whether referral decisions systematically disadvantage gender-atypical candidates. Workers chose whom to refer for a subsidized internship in their firm, first between randomized candidate profiles and later between profiles and nominated contacts from their own networks, with referrers rewarded if the intern was retained. We find large referral gaps: women in male-dominated occupations and men in female-dominated ones are 28 and 18 percentage points less likely to be referred than otherwise identical peers, with penalties increasing in the degree of sectoral segregation. Mechanisms show that gender-atypical candidates are rated as less likable, less competent, and less likely to enjoy the internship. Importantly, all candidates had completed two years of vocational training in the respondent’s own occupation, yet gender-atypical candidates were still penalized despite this strong signal of commitment. Additional experience helps men in female-dominated jobs overcome these penalties but does little for women in male-dominated jobs. Adjective analysis reveals that women are disproportionately described in terms of effort and character, while men are credited with ability and competence, especially in male-dominated contexts. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that referrals are not simply a byproduct of homophily or passthrough of employer preferences, but also transmit employees’ own stereotypes, reinforcing the extent to which the referral channel sustains occupational segregation

The seminar will take place on Thursday, October 2, 2025, in Room 105 at 14:00.

An extended abstract is attached.

If you need a discussion slot with Dr. Alfonsi, please write to Prof. Michal Bauer, and he will try to find a suitable time.

The list of all research seminars at IES (past and forthcoming) is available at: https://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/en/research/research-seminars