Report

Male and Female Competitive Behavior: Experimental Evidence

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Datta Gupta, Nabanita
Poulsen, Anders
Villeval, Marie-Claire

Abstract / Description

Male and female choices differ in many economic situations, e.g., on the labor market. This paper considers whether such differences are driven by different attitudes towards competition. In our experiment subjects choose between a tournament and a piece-rate pay scheme before performing a real task. Men choose the tournament significantly more often than women. Women are mainly influenced by their degree of risk aversion, but men are not. Men compete more against men than against women, but compete against women who are thought to compete. The behavior of men seems primarily to be influenced by social norms whose nature and origin we discuss.

Keyword(s)

Wettkampf Geschlecht Risiko Fähigkeit Experiment Konkurrenz Stückzahl competition tournament piece rate gender risk-aversion relative ability experiment

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2005

Is part of series

Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;1833

Citation

  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Datta Gupta, Nabanita
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Poulsen, Anders
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Villeval, Marie-Claire
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2022-11-17T11:02:56Z
  • Made available on
    2008-06-09
  • Made available on
    2015-12-01T10:32:13Z
  • Made available on
    2022-11-17T11:02:56Z
  • Date of first publication
    2005
  • Abstract / Description
    Male and female choices differ in many economic situations, e.g., on the labor market. This paper considers whether such differences are driven by different attitudes towards competition. In our experiment subjects choose between a tournament and a piece-rate pay scheme before performing a real task. Men choose the tournament significantly more often than women. Women are mainly influenced by their degree of risk aversion, but men are not. Men compete more against men than against women, but compete against women who are thought to compete. The behavior of men seems primarily to be influenced by social norms whose nature and origin we discuss.
    en
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bsz:291-psydok-16599
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11780/1114
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.8969
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Is part of
    IZA Discussion Paper Series No. 1833
  • Is part of series
    Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;1833
  • Keyword(s)
    Wettkampf
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Geschlecht
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Risiko
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Fähigkeit
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Experiment
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Konkurrenz
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Stückzahl
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    competition
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    tournament
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    piece rate
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    gender
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    risk-aversion
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    relative ability
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    experiment
    en
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Male and Female Competitive Behavior: Experimental Evidence
    en
  • DRO type
    report
  • Visible tag(s)
    PsyDok