In September, Marketing Letters, a premier academic journal in marketing, published “Beyond Perception: the Role of Gender Across Marketing Scholars’ Careers, in Reply to Galak and Kahn” co-authored by Ethan Pew, Lecturer in Columbia’s M.S. in Strategic Communication program, in its special issue on gender and ethnicity in the marketing professoriate (Volume 32, issue 3).
The article contributes to an important conversation around academic careers. Galak and Kahn (2021) initiated a field-level examination with their 2019 climate survey which measures and documents the differences women and people of color experience as academics. Pew and his coauthors extend these findings with three key analyses looking at distinct points in scholars' careers: the initial job market search for faculty positions, mobility across scholars' careers, and at the promotion to associate professor stage. The authors note that men and women begin their careers with similar expectations and similarly prioritize attributes in faculty positions. The authors also review career outcomes for 2909 Marketing academics and find that “beyond perception, women may experience reduced job mobility" with women being 21% less likely than men to change institutions. Further, an analysis of quantitative marketing scholars revealed women in this sub-area are less likely to be awarded tenure despite having a comparable research record to men. Lastly the authors report and note that because "94.43% of Marketing academics stayed in the tenure-track and exit rates to industry roles did not differ based on gender" increasing diversity within PhD programs may be a powerful mechanism for addressing representation in academia.
Dr. Pew is a consumer researcher specializing in financial decision-making who holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin. His research explores topics such as the perception of risk, prices, and time. He also regularly works with startups coordinating data collaborations and field experiments. As a faculty member in the School of Professional Studies, he teaches Digital Media and Analytics, Digital Communication Strategy, Communication, Research and Insights in Columbia’s Master of Science in Strategic Communication program.
