Help or Handicap? How Gender Moderates Pay Outcomes in Same-Gender Work Groups

Abstract

Prominent anecdotal evidence from music and sports suggests wide pay gaps between members of all-men versus all-women teams, despite minimal gender pay gaps between solo performers. Across two field studies and two experiments, we demonstrate that working in same-gender groups creates divergent pay outcomes for women versus men: all-men groups receive the highest pay while all-women groups receive the lowest, resulting in a significantly wider gender pay gap at the group level than at the individual level. We theorize that this asymmetry stems from differential perceptions of intergroup social competition enhancement strategy, as all-women groups are perceived as engaging in collective action to challenge status hierarchies, while all-men groups are not. These perceptions mediate the relationship between group composition and pay, denying women the legitimacy benefits that all-men groups receive. Our findings contribute to gender bias research by revealing that gender pay gaps compound at the group level: men working together receive advantages that women working together do not, perpetuating pay inequities through group-level bias mechanisms.