Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RGVWE (The Role of Gender in Virtual Work Environments)
Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2025-02-28
In today’s evolving work environment, many tasks and interactions are increasingly taking place through digital platforms rather than a traditional work space. While offering flexibility and efficiency, these platforms introduce distinct features—such as potential anonymity for both employees and managers—that fundamentally alter traditional work dynamics. In addition, due to the nature of these new forms of work, employees may feel less like conventional employees in traditional settings. Previous research further suggests that gender may interact with these features, creating a risk that these digital work structures could unintentionally disadvantage women. This makes studying virtual work settings both timely and critical from a labor market and societal perspective.
This project set out to investigate how digital workplace environments and their distinct attributes influence women’s engagement and work. Combining insights from psychology, strategic human capital, and information systems research, the study asks how these new work settings differ from traditional ones, and how features like visibility, platform design, and anonymity shape work dynamics across genders. The project’s findings aim to inform companies, policymakers, and platform developers, helping them to develop more inclusive digital workplaces. By identifying risks and proposing solutions, the research supports the creation of virtual work environments where all employees can thrive equally.
This project set out to investigate how digital workplace environments and their distinct attributes influence women’s engagement and work. Combining insights from psychology, strategic human capital, and information systems research, the study asks how these new work settings differ from traditional ones, and how features like visibility, platform design, and anonymity shape work dynamics across genders. The project’s findings aim to inform companies, policymakers, and platform developers, helping them to develop more inclusive digital workplaces. By identifying risks and proposing solutions, the research supports the creation of virtual work environments where all employees can thrive equally.
The project began with a comprehensive review of the academic literature on virtual work, online labor markets, and the role of artificial intelligence in shaping the future of work. The Principal Investigator (PI) also studied survey and experimental design methodologies to ensure a solid foundation for the research. Early efforts were also strengthened through collaborations with international scholars, helping accelerate a complementary study exploring how digital work and online labor markets differ from traditional work settings.
A pilot survey and experimental vignette study were then launched online, complemented by informal interviews with experienced remote workers. The aim was to explore and better understand the distinct dynamics of virtual work environments and to assess whether gender differences emerge in these contexts. Findings from the pilot phase indicated that the role of gender may be more nuanced in virtual work dynamics, which refined the project's focus toward examining how features like management anonymity interact with gender in virtual workplaces. In parallel, the PI also initiated a complementary research stream exploring how emerging digital tools, including artificial intelligence and generative AI models, are impacting creative and knowledge-based work across industries.
To carry out the survey experiment with real-world practitioners—and recognizing the practical challenges of running corporate fieldwork—the PI recruited experienced real-world professionals online through a two-stage carefully vetted sampling process. Pre-screening ensured gender balance, and also that participants had experience with digital work platforms and involvement in knowledge-intensive tasks. These conditions led the experiment to have a carefully controlled scope. The survey experiment was successfully deployed, capturing new data on how managerial anonymity affects engagement and effort levels, particularly among female knowledge workers.
Two related articles to this grant have also progressed well. The first, focused on Online Labor, has now been published (open access) in Industry and Innovation Journal (Q1 in SJR ranking), and the second one, on Creativity and AI, is conditionally accepted for publication in the Handbook of AI and Strategy.
A pilot survey and experimental vignette study were then launched online, complemented by informal interviews with experienced remote workers. The aim was to explore and better understand the distinct dynamics of virtual work environments and to assess whether gender differences emerge in these contexts. Findings from the pilot phase indicated that the role of gender may be more nuanced in virtual work dynamics, which refined the project's focus toward examining how features like management anonymity interact with gender in virtual workplaces. In parallel, the PI also initiated a complementary research stream exploring how emerging digital tools, including artificial intelligence and generative AI models, are impacting creative and knowledge-based work across industries.
To carry out the survey experiment with real-world practitioners—and recognizing the practical challenges of running corporate fieldwork—the PI recruited experienced real-world professionals online through a two-stage carefully vetted sampling process. Pre-screening ensured gender balance, and also that participants had experience with digital work platforms and involvement in knowledge-intensive tasks. These conditions led the experiment to have a carefully controlled scope. The survey experiment was successfully deployed, capturing new data on how managerial anonymity affects engagement and effort levels, particularly among female knowledge workers.
Two related articles to this grant have also progressed well. The first, focused on Online Labor, has now been published (open access) in Industry and Innovation Journal (Q1 in SJR ranking), and the second one, on Creativity and AI, is conditionally accepted for publication in the Handbook of AI and Strategy.
The project generated several important insights on how virtual work is evolving.
First, initial results from the Survey Experiment project suggest that anonymity in digital work settings may not always benefit female knowledge workers as much as previously believed. While it is known that anonymity in virtual work settings can help women seek information more freely and with less concern about social or psychological costs, it can also create new challenges when applied to their management side, when the managers’ identities and reputations are hidden. Our findings reveal that virtual work under anonymous managers is very common, yet this phenomenon has been largely understudied in the existing literature. Initial results show that women in virtual settings tend to rely more heavily on a manager’s reputation—such as prior ratings—before fully engaging in their work. As a result, anonymous management may pose particular difficulties for female workers. These insights suggest that designing more gender-sensitive digital work environments may be more complex than previously thought and must consider the specific challenges of each context. A real-world field experiment is currently underway to strengthen and validate these conclusions.
The Online-Labor project offered a breakthrough in understanding how digital labor markets differ from traditional workplaces. Studying transactions on a leading virtual-work platform, the research showed that tools such as strict monitoring and competition—practices that usually improve performance in traditional work settings—can actually backfire in virtual environments. These practices may cause workers to feel that their psychological contract has been breached, reducing project success. This challenges long-standing management theories developed for traditional work settings and suggests that organizations need new strategies for managing digital work settings.
Finally, the AI and Creativity project explored how new technologies like generative AI are changing knowledge-intensive creative work. The study argues that tasks involving artistic creativity, which depend on recognizing patterns, are more likely to be automated by AI, while tasks that rely on scientific creativity, which relies on reasoning and hypothesis testing, remain more resistant to automation. These findings are helping shape a new understanding of how different types of work and industries will be impacted by AI in the coming years.
Together, these research streams provide important insights for how companies, policymakers, and society can build more inclusive, productive, and resilient work environments in a rapidly changing digital world.
First, initial results from the Survey Experiment project suggest that anonymity in digital work settings may not always benefit female knowledge workers as much as previously believed. While it is known that anonymity in virtual work settings can help women seek information more freely and with less concern about social or psychological costs, it can also create new challenges when applied to their management side, when the managers’ identities and reputations are hidden. Our findings reveal that virtual work under anonymous managers is very common, yet this phenomenon has been largely understudied in the existing literature. Initial results show that women in virtual settings tend to rely more heavily on a manager’s reputation—such as prior ratings—before fully engaging in their work. As a result, anonymous management may pose particular difficulties for female workers. These insights suggest that designing more gender-sensitive digital work environments may be more complex than previously thought and must consider the specific challenges of each context. A real-world field experiment is currently underway to strengthen and validate these conclusions.
The Online-Labor project offered a breakthrough in understanding how digital labor markets differ from traditional workplaces. Studying transactions on a leading virtual-work platform, the research showed that tools such as strict monitoring and competition—practices that usually improve performance in traditional work settings—can actually backfire in virtual environments. These practices may cause workers to feel that their psychological contract has been breached, reducing project success. This challenges long-standing management theories developed for traditional work settings and suggests that organizations need new strategies for managing digital work settings.
Finally, the AI and Creativity project explored how new technologies like generative AI are changing knowledge-intensive creative work. The study argues that tasks involving artistic creativity, which depend on recognizing patterns, are more likely to be automated by AI, while tasks that rely on scientific creativity, which relies on reasoning and hypothesis testing, remain more resistant to automation. These findings are helping shape a new understanding of how different types of work and industries will be impacted by AI in the coming years.
Together, these research streams provide important insights for how companies, policymakers, and society can build more inclusive, productive, and resilient work environments in a rapidly changing digital world.