Self-promotion is a critical tool for career advancement. Yet, due to gendered expectations, women often face social and economic penalties for engaging in self-promotion in face-to-face contexts. Drawing on Expectancy Violation Theory, we examine whether online social networks (OSNs) create a context where gendered penalties for self-promotion disappear, effectively leveling the playing field. Using archival LinkedIn data from 691 MBA students at top-ranked business schools in United States and Europe, along with two pre-registered experimental studies, we find that OSNs foster greater acceptance of self-promotion than face-to-face interactions for both men and women. Additionally, women engage in more frequent self-promotion on OSNs than men. However, excessive self-promotion, regardless of gender, results in negative evaluations, including lower hireability and likability. We identify norms of appropriate behavior as a key mediator in this relationship, underscoring the importance of moderation in self-promotion behaviors. Our findings contribute to expectancy violation theory by demonstrating how OSNs equalize self-promotion norms. We further advance understanding of gender and self-promotion by highlighting OSNs as a context where women can self-promote without penalties, provided their behaviors align with average activity levels. Finally, we extend the future-of-work literature by exploring the role of digital platforms in shaping career advancement strategies.
