[natmaster]

I'm curious about this quote, "Investors preferred entrepreneurial ventures pitched by a man than an identical pitch from a woman by a rate of 68% to 32% in a study conducted jointly by HBS, Wharton, and MIT Sloan. “Male-narrated pitches were rated as more persuasive, logical and fact-based than were the same pitches narrated by a female voice.”"

They leave out all details on how the study was conducted. Does anyone know whether it was the same words, and they just changed the name, or if they actually composed different pitches?

[jmiwhite]

This is addressed in the study[0] on the third page (4429):

"The pitch videos showed images related to the ventures, but they did not show the entrepreneurs themselves. Participants heard the entrepreneur’s voice-over narration while they watched each video. This video pitch format allowed us to dub in a male voice and a female voice (randomly assigned), holding the narration script constant. After watching the videos, participants chose which company to fund."

[0]: http://www.pnas.org/content/111/12/4427.full.pdf

[danieltillett]

This is such garbage science I can't believe it was published in PNAS outside of an old direct submission. Using only one narrator for each sex just tests the narrator and tells us nothing about the role of gender.

[natmaster]

Thanks!