Must female accounting faculty publish more to achieve tenure?

Abstract

We examine whether female faculty in US universities have a higher tenure benchmark relative to their male counterparts. Using survey data from 317 accounting faculty, we compare the role of gender for both favorable and unfavorable tenure decisions. Specifically, we compare: the research output of female faculty who are awarded tenure to that of similarly successful male faculty, and the research output of female faculty who are not awarded tenure to that of similarly unsuccessful male faculty. Contrary to past research investigating gender bias at upper ranks within organizations, we find no evidence that female faculty must achieve higher research output than male faculty in order to be awarded tenure.