RESEARCH_FILE
Hannah Riley Bowles
Harvard Kennedy School
Known for:Experimental research on the backlash effect in salary negotiation — documenting that female negotiators are penalized in likeability and hirability when they initiate salary talks, while equivalent male negotiators face no comparable penalty
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“I can't ask for a raise”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“A no leaves me exactly where silence does, minus the wondering.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Spend five minutes in a private note drafting one compensation request in plain language: role, amount or range, and one sentence of why it fits. Save it without sending, then close the note.
Key findings
- 2007
With Babcock and Lei, Bowles used controlled experiments to show that both male and female evaluators rated female salary negotiators as less likeable and less hirable after they initiated negotiation, while male negotiators performing the same actions faced no equivalent social penalty — the first rigorous documentation of asymmetric backlash. Social Incentives for Gender Differences in the Propensity to Initiate Negotiations: Sometimes It Does Hurt to Ask ↗
- 2005
With Babcock and McGinn, Bowles showed that gender gaps in negotiation outcomes narrow significantly when women receive clear information about the negotiability of an offer, pointing to structural ambiguity — not just internal psychology — as a key suppressor of women's negotiation propensity. Constraints and Triggers: Situational Mechanics of Gender in Negotiation ↗