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Home | Events Archive | Choosing and Using Information in Evaluation Decisions
Seminar

Choosing and Using Information in Evaluation Decisions


  • Series
  • Speaker(s)
    Katherine Coffman (Harvard Business School, United States)
  • Field
    Behavioral Economics
  • Location
    University of Amsterdam, Roeterseilandcampus, room E5.22
    Amsterdam
  • Date and time

    May 23, 2024
    16:00 - 17:15

Abstract
We use a controlled experiment to study how information acquisition impacts candidate evaluations. We provide evaluators with group-level information on performance and the opportunity to acquire additional, individual-level performance information before making a final evaluation. We find that, on average, evaluators under-acquire individual-level information, leading to more stereotypical evaluations of candidates. Consistent with stereotyping, we find that (irrelevant) group-level comparisons have a significant impact on how candidates are evaluated; group-level comparisons bias initial assessments, responses to information, and final evaluations. This leads to under-recognition of talented candidates from comparatively weaker groups and over-selection of untalented candidates from comparatively stronger groups. Joint work with Scott Kostyshak and Perihan Saygin.