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College of Business
AACSB International EQUIS - European Quality Improvement System
Research Seminar
[Brown Bag] The Evolving Meanings of ‘Women’ in Business Discourse, 1945-2023 by Prof. Matthew BOTHNER, ESMT Berlin
Abstract: We combine deep learning and network analysis to investigate the evolving conceptualizations of ‘women’ in professional and social roles through Harvard Business Review (HBR) articles from 1945 to 2023. We fine-tune BERT models on each issue of HBR, using these to predict contextual word associations and to construct both directed and symmetric semantic networks for each time period. Our resulting longitudinal semantic networks offer a unique window onto the progression of women’s representation in the business world, capturing subtle shifts in language use and conceptual associations. Preliminary findings reveal significant changes in the network position of ‘women’ post-1972, coinciding with major legal reforms. After this juncture, we observe increased eigenvector centrality coupled with decreased local clustering, suggesting a broadening of associations and roles linked to women in business discourse. Our analysis further suggests that while the markedness of ‘women’ persists, it has evolved into a more sophisticated form, serving both as a reminder of lingering distinctions and as a tool for addressing ongoing inequities. Our research offers a data-driven narrative of progress, while highlighting areas where linguistic and conceptual barriers may persist, with implications for scholars in business, gender studies, and linguistics, as well as for practitioners addressing gender dynamics in professional environments.
Date: Oct 10 (Thu), 2024 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Time: 3:30PM - 5:30PM
Venue: 14-222, Level 14, Lau Ming Wai Academic Building (LAU)
Details: Speaker bio: Matt Bothner joined ESMT European School of Management and Technology in 2011 as a professor and the first holder of the Deutsche Telekom Chair in Leadership and HR Development. His current research addresses the measurement and consequences of social status in several empirical settings, including venture capital, professional sports, and higher education. In addition, he has developed computational models both to better understand factors affecting the evolution of cumulative advantage and to clarify the optimal strategies for leading tournaments for peer recognition. His research has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, American Journal of Sociology, Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using network-analytic methods to capture patterns of inter-firm competition, his dissertation focused on antecedents of technology diffusion in the global personal computer industry and also examined the effects of localized scale-based competition on rates of firm sales growth. He has also studied the behavioural consequences of competitive crowding around contestants’ ranks in dynamic tournaments, focusing on the positional causes of car crashes in professional stockcar auto racing.