American Economic Review Vol. 90 No. 4 2000

Mentoring and Diversity

Susan Athey¹; Christopher Avery²; Peter Zemsky³

¹ Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142. · ² Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. · ³ INSEAD, Boulevard de Constance, Fountainbleau Cedex 77305, France.

Abstract

We study how diversity evolves at a firm with entry-level and upper-level employees who vary in ability and “type” (gender or ethnicity). The ability of entry-level employees is increased by mentoring. An employee receives more mentoring when more upper-level employees have the same type. Optimal promotions are biased by type, and this bias may favor either the minority or the majority. We characterize possible steady states, including a “glass ceiling,” where the upper level remains less diverse than the entry level. A firm may have multiple steady states, whereby temporary affirmative-action policies have a long-run impact.

DOI

10.1257/aer.90.4.765

Volume

90

Issue

4

Pages

765-786

Language

en

Sources

crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex

Cite

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