Friendly fire in expatriate selection: women's bias against female candidates

The expatriate population is still dominantly male - 75% of assignees in 2017 were men. Researchers have concluded that the continuing underrepresentation of women in expatriate positions can partly be explained by informal hiring processes that allow selection decisions to be influenced by negative stereotypes that the largely male decision makers hold against female candidates. In this study, we challenge this line of argument and investigated two of its underlying assumptions: First, that it is female candidate gender that causes a lower likelihood to be hired as an international assignee, and second, that it is male evaluators who are less likely to hire female candidates for expatriate assignments. Using Experimental Vignette Methodology, 214 participants of business school and university courses were presented with two vignettes in a 2 (candidate gender) X 2 (assignment type) mixed factorial design. Results confirmed that female candidates were less likely to be hired for expatriate assignments. However, it was female evaluators who were favoring male over female candidates, while male evaluators did not show any gender bias. We discuss our findings in light of research on expatriate selection and gender biases, and derive theoretical and practical implications.