Abstract
Drawing on social role theory (Eagly & Wood, 2016), this paper seeks to understand the nature and causes of gender bias in student evaluations of teaching (SETs) by looking at student evaluations of faculty at two time periods: on the second day of class and on the day after the first exam grade is returned. We seek to understand whether bias exists at the onset of the semester and whether backlash after grading exacerbates any differences. We hypothesized that students would perceive grade feedback more harshly from a female faculty member than a male faculty member due to role congruency expectations of communality in women. The results indicate limited evidence for gender bias at the onset of the semester (the second day of class) and strong evidence for bias against female faculty after the first exam grade is received. This work advances our understanding of when bias develops within the semester and why it may occur. The findings of this study should be of interest to administrators and human resource personnel by ultimately aiding their ability to better manage gender bias in performance evaluations.
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Buser, W., Batz-Barbarich, C.L. & Hayter, J.K. Evaluation of Women in Economics: Evidence of Gender Bias Following Behavioral Role Violations. Sex Roles 86, 695–710 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-022-01299-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-022-01299-w