My research investigates how gender bias systematically shapes knowledge production and recognition and reproduces existing inequalities in academia. These insights extend beyond science to illuminate how status‑based biases shape the evaluation of innovation in entrepreneurship and cultural domains.
Lee, Jina. (2025). Gendered Pathways to Perpetual Fame: The Selection of Elite Novelists into the Korean Literary Canon. Poetics, 112.
This study examines how gender affects whether Korean women writers achieve lasting recognition in literature. I analyzed 267 elite Korean novelists and found that while being a woman doesn't directly prevent inclusion in literary anthologies, positive reviews by literary critics help men much more than women when it comes to achieving long-term recognition. The study also found a cultural difference from Western countries: Korean literary critics value personal, autobiographical writing from both men and women writers, unlike Western critics. During Korea's colonial period, using personal narratives in literary writing became an accepted way to express and restore ethnic identity. However, Korean literary scholars still treat men's and women's work differently. They describe men's personal writing as having universal importance, while they label women's similar work as specifically feminine or gender-focused. This shows that gender inequality in literature continues even when the evaluation standards seem fair on the surface. The ways that gender bias and devaluation operate change to fit different cultural contexts while still favoring men.
Leahey, Erin, Jina Lee, Russell. J. Funk. (2023). What Types of Novelty Are Most Disruptive? American Sociological Review, 88(3): 562-597.
We found that papers with new methods disrupt existing knowledge patterns the most, typically standing on their own. In contrast, papers introducing new theories tend to enhance and build upon existing knowledge, often being cited along with the works they reference. This study is unique because it goes beyond the usual unidimensional approach of measuring novelty and impact in science. We created a new way to measure the multiple types of novelty in scientific articles and assessed the nature of their scientific influences.
Lee, Jina, Minjae Seo, Erin Leahey. (2022). Who Deserves Protection? How Naming Potential Beneficiaries Influences COVID-19 Vaccine Intentions. Socius, 8.
Vaccination serves both personal and community benefits by reducing disease spread. Our experimental study with 516 participants explored the influence of political ideology and vaccination promotion messages on COVID-19 vaccine intent. Results showed liberals responded positively to messages highlighting racial minorities, while conservatives' vaccine intent decreased. Our results indicate the persistent societal exclusion of racial and ethnic minorities from moral boundaries contingent upon political values.
Zhao, Yi, Jina Lee, Cheryl Ellenwood. (2021). The Persistent Influence of Gender Stereotypes in Social Entrepreneurial Financing. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 15(3): 811-832.
While social enterprises seem promising in promoting female entrepreneurship and gender equality, our research reveals that female social entrepreneurs still face disadvantages in securing funding compared to their male counterparts. Even though these disparities lessen with ventures of greater social value orientation, this is due to reduced funding for male founders, not increased funding for females.
Lee, Jina. “The Gender of Scientific Authority: Novelty Claims and Gender Gaps in Scientific Impact Across Disciplines” [R&R at Gender & Society]
Paik, Eugene T., Jina Lee, Erin Leahey, Russell Funk. “Divide and Conquer? How Partitioned Audiences Shape the Impact of Domain-Spanning Innovation.” [Manuscript available]
Lee, Jina. “Selective Recognition: Gendered Recognition of Different Types of Scientific Novelty.” [Manuscript available]
Lee, Jina. “Who Faces More Doubt in Crisis? Gendered Patterns of Uncertainty in Reception of High-Stakes Science.” [In progress]
Bratt, Sarah, Erin Leahey, Yea-Eun Kwon, Charles Lassiter, Jina Lee, Charles Gomez. “Do Journal Data Sharing Requirements Promote Humility in Scientific Articles?” [In progress]