Gender Gap in Creative Work Behavior for Japanese Engineers in Research and Development

• In Event: 256 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 21. Gender and Work II

Abstract

This study examines the gender gap in creative work behavior for Japanese engineers in research and development (R&D). Using the recent national sample of research and development engineers (3,676 men and 700 women), we investigate; (1) whether female engineers in Japan are less likely than their male counterparts to engage in their work creatively, and if so (2) whether the difference in structural characteristics of Japanese engineering workplaces for men and women explain the gap. Results showed that women were significantly less likely to work creatively than men. Although it was expected that the gender gap in creative behavior would be reduced to non-significance by controlling for workplace characteristics across men and women, women were still less likely than men to work creatively, even after holding these factors constant. Our results suggest that gender gap in creative work behavior are not reducible to the structural difference in engineering workplaces between Japanese men and women.

Authors

• Tetsushi Fujimoto, Doshisha University

• Sayaka K Shinohara, Doshisha University

• Shiming Xia, Doshisha University