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| Title: | Do Personality Differences Explain the Gender Pay Gap? Evidence from Three Transition Economies |
| Authors: | Semykina, Anastasia
Linz, Susan |
| Keywords: | Personality; Locus of control; Earnings; Gender wage gap; Armenia;Kazakhstan; Russia |
| Issue Date: | 13-Sep-2007 |
| Series/Report no.: | IPC Working Paper Series No. 51 |
| Abstract: | We use data from an employee survey conducted in Russia, Armenia and Kazakhstan
to study the contribution of gender differences in personality to gender differences in pay. In particular, we focus on the influence of locus of control (LOC) because there is evidence from studies conducted in developed market economies suggesting that individuals with an
internal LOC (i.e. those who believe that their success is determined by own actions)
demonstrate greater initiative and better performance than individuals with an external LOC (i.e. those who believe that their success is determined by external forces). Similar to these studies, we find that among the participants of our survey, men are more likely to exhibit an
internal LOC, while women are more likely to have an external LOC. Gender differences in
LOC are particularly large among Russian employees, while very small in the Kazakhstan
sample. Additionally, we find that an internal LOC is associated with higher pay for both male and female participants of the Armenian and Russian surveys. In Kazakhstan, the estimated effects of LOC are positive, but small and very noisy. The results from the Oaxaca-Blinder-Neumark wage gap decomposition show that among the participants of the surveys, gender differences in LOC explain 5.5% of the gender pay gap in Armenia, 7% of the gap in
Russia, and 2.7% of the gap in Kazakhstan. We suggest possible explanations for the
observed cross-country differences and discuss policy implications. |
| Appears in Collections: | International Policy Center (IPC) - Working Paper Series
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| AKR_WageGap.pdf | | 189Kb | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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