Right byte or left out? Gender differences in self-presentation among job-seekers on LinkedIn in India

Abstract

Abstract Professional social networking sites like LinkedIn have opened up immense opportunities for job seekers to manage their self-presentations online to create a favorable impression on others. The present study aimed to examine how presentation of jobseekers on LinkedIn was affected by their gender. It investigated gender differences on LinkedIn profiles on self-promotion, agency/communion-related self-descriptors, and emotional expressivity in portraits, among recent MBA graduates. The sample comprised of 669 LinkedIn users (337 men and 332 women), matched on current industry, MBA graduation year, institute, age, experience, and geographic location. Self-promotion metrics included length of ‘about’ section, number of skills, and number of awards and honors in the listed profiles. We also counted the number of agentic and communal words (Pietraszkiewicz et al. in Eur J Soc Psychol 49:871–887, 2018) listed in users’ personal summaries. Emotional expressivity measures included full smile, head-canting, and eye contact seen in portraits, as independently rated by 10 raters. Results using chi-square analysis demonstrated that men self-promoted more than women. Women’s portraits showed more head canting and smiling than men, although no difference was found on eye contact. Significant differences were found between men and women on the use of communion words, but not agentic words. Such differences in self-promotion, gendered language and emotional expressivity may place women at a disadvantage relative to men in seeking jobs. Interpretation of the findings and implications are discussed.

Keywords

• Self-presentation
• Gender differences
• LinkedIn
• Self-promotion
• Agentic-communal traits
• Portraits