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Stoyan V. Sgourev, ESSEC Business School - Management Research Workshop
Details
STOYAN V. SGOUREV, ESSEC BUSINESS SCHOOL
(CO-AUTHORS ELISA OPERTI & SHEMUEL Y. LAMPRONTI)
Studies show that women are better than men at cognitively representing social relationships and that these abilities facilitate career advancement. But then why are women still trailing men on career outcomes based on these abilities? We propose as a moderating factor the competitive rivalry that defines the race for career success. Rivalry is inter-personal competition, characterised by higher psychological stakes. Connecting literatures on rivalry, networks and gender, we argue that rivalry erodes women’s advantage at recalling and activating networks. Supporting evidence is obtained from an experimental study of network recall and a field study of network-related performance by neighbourhood captains in the Palio di Siena (1930-2010). By reducing network complexity and prioritizing aggressiveness, focus and blocking activities, rivalry flips the script, weakening female performance. Rather than altering the composition of their networks, efforts at improving women’s returns to networking should be targeted at raising awareness of their superior cognitive-relational capabilities and removing structural obstacles to their fulfilment.
If you wish to attend, please email Faculty Administration to confirm your place.
Where
Bayes Business School, 106 Bunhill Row
3003
106 Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8TZ, UK
Speakers
Stoyan Sgourev
Stoyan V. Sgourev is Professor of Management at ESSEC Business School. He received his PhD in Sociology from Stanford University. His research interests include innovation and evaluation practices in the creative industries and historical processes of change in the Dutch Republic and Italy. His work has been featured in the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Organization Science and Organization Studies, among others.