An exploratory study of gender effect on student presentation evaluations: Does gender similarity make a difference?

Purpose - This study aims to examine the potential effects of the gender similarity between the presenter and evaluator on the presentation evaluation scores obtained with an evaluation form. Design/methodology/approach - The data were collected from marketing students at two universities in the USA. A rubric and separate survey instrument were used to capture student presentation evaluation scores and perceptions of gender differences in various aspects of presentation quality. Findings - Findings indicate that gender of evaluators or presenters did not have any significant effect on presentation scores. The survey of student perceptions of gender effect on student presentations indicate that while female students seem to be perceived as better presenters than male students, the study found no consistent patterns of gender effect on presentation evaluations. Research limitations/implications - Only four evaluation criteria were used to measure presentation quality. Originality/value - The results of this exploratory study uses the actual presentation evaluations and survey of student perceptions suggesting that student inputs can be included for grading without any concern of gender bias on grading.