Location
Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
Event Website
https://hicss.hawaii.edu/
Start Date
7-1-2025 12:00 AM
End Date
10-1-2025 12:00 AM
Description
As a result of discrimination, victims suffer many injustices, including limited employment opportunities, lower wages for work of equal value, and being at the bottom of the labor market. In this study, we leveraged a unique dataset of 27,871 profiles from Upwork to understand how to minimize disparities in the online workplace by presenting user skills and positive emotions on their profiles. Our findings suggest that while women and minorities earn less than their male and white counterparts, ceteris paribus, increasing the number of skills on their profiles reduces these disparities for Black and Asian Freelancers. Furthermore., increasing the positivity (joyful emotion) on their profiles further reduces the disparity for Blacks. Furthermore, the effects are reduced for Asians when they increase the number of skills on their profiles. These findings have several implications for research.
Recommended Citation
King, Kelvin; Muraku, Besjana; and King, Lucy, "Breaking the Glass Ceiling: The Importance of Skills and Positivity in Reducing Gender and Racial Disparities in the Online Workplace" (2025). Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2025 (HICSS-58). 4.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-58/sj/inclusive_labor/4
Breaking the Glass Ceiling: The Importance of Skills and Positivity in Reducing Gender and Racial Disparities in the Online Workplace
Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
As a result of discrimination, victims suffer many injustices, including limited employment opportunities, lower wages for work of equal value, and being at the bottom of the labor market. In this study, we leveraged a unique dataset of 27,871 profiles from Upwork to understand how to minimize disparities in the online workplace by presenting user skills and positive emotions on their profiles. Our findings suggest that while women and minorities earn less than their male and white counterparts, ceteris paribus, increasing the number of skills on their profiles reduces these disparities for Black and Asian Freelancers. Furthermore., increasing the positivity (joyful emotion) on their profiles further reduces the disparity for Blacks. Furthermore, the effects are reduced for Asians when they increase the number of skills on their profiles. These findings have several implications for research.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-58/sj/inclusive_labor/4