Gendered Pathways to the Job Offer: Stereotypes and Diversity Value during Job Offer Decisions in Software Engineering Hiring

Many corporations in the United States are under pressure to increase gender diversity in professions such as software engineering that have long been dominated by men. Current sociological theory suggests that in response to such pressure, hiring decision makers value women job candidates as potential contributions to gender diversity and incorporate this value into their initial hiring screening decisions. However, it remains unclear whether and how decision makers take diversity into consideration in later hiring stages, namely, during offer decisions, and particularly when there is a strong culture of meritocracy. In this article, the author examines a critical case study of software engineering hiring at a midsized high-technology firm. Drawing on qualitative data, the author finds that diversity considerations do play a role in job offers, but as an implicit motivational force during job offer deliberations rather than an explicitly stated factor. A quantitative analysis complements the qualitative analysis: the author finds no female penalty on receiving an offer where one might be expected, which the author argues is due to implicit diversity considerations during hiring deliberations. The findings of this study have implications for theories of hiring discrimination, cultural fit as a legitimating tool, and motivating reasoning under strong pressures to diversify.