Abstract
Gender inequality in the labor market is still a widespread problem. Concomitantly, several researchers have been trying to find solutions to work against it. One of them is gender-fair language. We cannot overcome gender inequality as long as we use one-sided language. Hence, formulating texts in a gender-fair way would attract more women and could provide a big step towards a more gender-equal distribution in the labor market. But despite the numerous studies that have already explored the effects of gender-fair language in job advertisements, no researcher ever focused on its potential impact on perceived diversity, efforts to foster inclusion, and CSR. In this experiment, I exposed 154 participants to either a masculine-only, a gender-fair, or a gender-neutral formulated job advertisement on LinkedIn. The analysis for all direct effects revealed there was at least a tendency that gender-fair language is the most effective version. Gender-fair language in the job advertisement caused significantly the most positive results for the opinion towards the job advertisement, perceived diversity, and perceived efforts to foster inclusion. Based on the signaling, the attribution, and the social identity theory, I assumed that these effects would be more pronounced for females. Against the prevailing view, the results did not support these assumptions. Hence, my outcomes show that men are also positively reacting to gender-fair formulated vacancies.