Title: What Makes the Cut? Gender and Creative Portfolio Construction among EDM DJs
Speaker: Xu Li , London School of Economics
Authors: Xu Li (LSE) and Amandine Ody-Brasier (McGill)
Host: Jiaqing Sun, London School of Economics
When: 20:00-21:15, Nov.30, 2026, China Time
Where: Zoom Meeting
Register link: https://www.xcdsystem.com/iacmr/forms/index.cfm?ID=NbAD0tQ

Abstract:

Creative portfolios shape careers, yet we know little about how creators decide which works are ready for evaluation. We propose that anticipated gendered evaluations lead women to apply higher release thresholds, producing systematic differences in portfolio construction. We investigate this argument through a mixed-methods study combining longitudinal data on 46,510 electronic dance music DJs across 119 countries with 55 interviews. We find that women release work less frequently and build smaller portfolios than men at comparable career stages. Release patterns vary with contextual gender inequality, professional recognition, and opportunities for direct comparison with existing works in ways consistent with the proposed mechanism. Interviews illuminate these patterns, revealing systematic gender differences in how creators approach portfolio decisions: men tend to describe their portfolios as records of experimentation and development, whereas women describe more selective approaches linked to expectations of harsher evaluations. Our findings suggest that anticipated evaluation shapes the threshold between producing creative work and making it available to relevant evaluators. By connecting gendered evaluations to release decisions, we explain how inequality may influence the body of work available for assessment well before evaluators encounter it.

Speaker’s bio

Dr. Xu Li (李旭) is an Assistant Professor of Management at the London School of Economics. His research lies at the intersection of organizational theory and strategy, focusing on two fundamental questions. First, he examines the performance implications of innovation, particularly when institutional forces render innovation less beneficial or even detrimental to firm or individual performance. Second, he investigates sources of heterogeneity in firm and individual creativity, especially when it involves norm violation. Xu employs mixed methods, combining quantitative analyses of archival and experimental data with qualitative evidence from field observations and interviews with industry insiders. His work has appeared in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, and Strategic Management Journal. Xu received his PhD in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from London Business School and completed his undergraduate studies in Biological Sciences at Peking University.