Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of California Merced, Merced, CA, USA.
Nat Hum Behav. 2024 Nov;8(11):2107-2118. doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-01977-7. Epub 2024 Oct 4.
Underrepresented minority (URM) faculty face challenges in many domains of academia, from university admissions to grant applications. We examine whether this translates to promotion and tenure (P&T) decisions. Data from five US universities on 1,571 faculty members' P&T decisions show that URM faculty received 7% more negative votes and were 44% less likely to receive unanimous votes from P&T committees. A double standard in how scholarly productivity is rewarded is also observed, with below-average h-indexes being judged more harshly for URM faculty than for non-URM faculty. This relationship is amplified for faculty with intersectional backgrounds, especially URM women. The differential treatment of URM women was mitigated when external reviewers highlighted candidates' scholarship more in their review letters. In sum, the results support the double standard hypothesis and provide evidence that different outcomes in P&T decision-making processes contribute to the sustained underrepresentation of URM faculty in tenured faculty positions.
代表性不足的少数族裔（URM）教职员工在学术界的许多领域都面临挑战，从大学招生到申请拨款。我们研究了这是否会转化为晋升和终身教职（P&T）的决定。来自美国五所大学的 1571 名教职员工 P&T 决定的数据显示，URM 教职员工获得的负面投票多了 7%，获得 P&T 委员会一致投票的可能性低了 44%。我们还观察到，学术生产力的回报存在双重标准，URM 教职员工的 h 指数低于平均水平，其受到的评判更为苛刻，而非 URM 教职员工则不然。对于具有交叉背景的教职员工来说，这种关系更为明显，尤其是 URM 女性。当外部评审员在评审信中更强调候选人的学术成就时，URM 女性的这种差异待遇有所减轻。总之，研究结果支持双重标准假设，并提供证据表明，P&T 决策过程中的不同结果导致 URM 教职员工在终身教职岗位上的代表性持续不足。
