Yinan Wang (Harvard)

"Organizational Tacitness and Gendered Risks: Cultural Matching Reexamined"

(with Zehra Yildirim)

Cultural matching is central to explanations of labor market stratification, yet far less is known about its organizational and gendered consequences beyond the hiring phase. We investigate how presumed cultural alignment structures workplace norms and inequalities using the case of sex toy companies, where sex positivity is treated as a shared and self-evident value. Drawing on interviews with individuals who work in sex toy and sexual wellness companies, we argue that presumed cultural consensus generates organizational tacitness: a condition in which cultural expectations are treated as self-evident and remain unformalized, leading organizations to rely on unspoken norms rather than explicit rules to regulate behavior. In this context, sex positive ideals were taken as intuitive, leading to a set of tacit expectations and assumptions about professionalism in the workplace. Furthermore, a lack of clear guidelines for navigating sexualized interactions leaves employees to determine appropriate conduct, rely on subtle cues to interpret boundaries, and manage interpersonal dynamics. We find that this tacit governance obscures institutional responsibility, devolving the burden of boundary-setting and risk management to individual workers. Consequently, women are disproportionately saddled with additional emotional and cognitive labor, increasing their susceptibility to harassment. Our analysis reveals how presumed cultural alignment can ultimately reproduce and reinforce gendered and sexualized inequalities.