Essays on Behavioral Aspects of Knowledge Production, Interpersonal Knowledge Exchange, and Gender Disparities

While innovations and smooth knowledge flows are key drivers in the success of organizations, the persisting frictions surrounding them are understudied. This dissertation uses experimental and empirical methods to comprehend underlying behavioral factors impacting the sourcing, transmission, and generation of knowledge in non-standard samples of white-collar professionals. A partial focus lies on gender disparities, given women’s continued underrepresentation in innovative knowledge work.

The first essay investigates the impact of reputational concerns on knowledge sourcing behavior in a largescale online experiment. Results show a sizable and inefficient decline in knowledge sourcing when visible to a bonus-awarding manager, despite the fact that managers do not interpret knowledge sourcing negatively. This documents a potential misconception hindering knowledge flows for men and women alike.

The second essay leverages quasi-random variation in early peer interactions from a novel, global data source of professionals to analyze peers’ impact on continued engagement and persistence on an online knowledge exchange platform. It contributes to research on how digital interactions can be designed and governed to create value.

The third essay uses an online experiment to study the role of competitive and male-dominated environments for gender gaps in creative ideation output. This approach allows to overcome endogeneity and selection issues inherent to observational settings and to examine mechanisms.