Women’s Approachability Premium in Sales: A Field Experiment among Microentrepreneurs

Female entrepreneurs consistently earn less than their male counterparts, a disparity that is particularly acute among microentrepreneurs in developing economies. Researchers often attribute this gap to structural constraints, but pay less attention to how social interactions shape earnings. This oversight is especially relevant in microentrepreneurship, where sales are contingent on customers approaching and interacting with sellers in the marketplace. Using an interactionist lens, we draw on social exchange theory and research on gender stereotypes to guide expectations. We anticipate that customers will more often approach female sellers, expecting warmer interactions, and that this higher volume will translate into higher earnings when business characteristics and selling behavior are held constant. Existing research hints at this dynamic, but methodological constraints have obscured it. To overcome these constraints and test our theory, we conducted a field experiment in two face-to-face markets in India. We trained confederate sellers to run identical, de novo microenterprises and follow standard protocols for customer engagement, thus isolating customer approach in response to sellers’ gender. Female sellers attracted 41% more customers, resulting in significantly higher sales than men, all else equal, in our experiment. Consistent with our theory, customers were more likely to talk with women about topics unrelated to the sale and attempt to bargain with women. This study advances research on gender dynamics in entrepreneurship, negotiation, and customer-facing work by identifying customer approach as a novel mechanism that can generate economic advantages for female microentrepreneurs and may shape gendered opportunities in other markets and organizations.