Do Nominations Close the Gender Gap in Competition?

John Ifcher () and Homa Zarghamee ()
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John Ifcher: Santa Clara University
Homa Zarghamee: Barnard College

No 13852, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Experiments have demonstrated that men are more willing to compete than women in stereotypically male tasks. We examine whether nominations close this gender gap. For example, are male nominators more willing than female nominators to enter nominees into competitions. Further, we consider the interaction between nominator and nominee gender. For example, do men shy away from entering women into competitions, or do they make them compete too much? We find a gender gap in neither nominators' willingness to enter nominees into competitions, nor in nominees' likelihood to be entered into competitions. Interestingly, male and female nominators willingness to enter nominees into competitions is statistically indistinguishable from women's willingness to enter themselves into competitions. We also find that men are significantly more likely to enter themselves than others into competitions; this suggests that a nominating process that excludes self-nominations could have an equalizing effect on the proportion of men and women who enter competitions. Our results also reinforce the assertion that the gender gap in competitive preferences is driven by the "thrill or fear of performing in a competitive environment (Niederle & Vesterlund, 2007)," as this motivation is absent in decision-making for others.

Keywords: nominations; preference for competition; willingness to compete; gender gap; decision making for others; DMfO (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H1 H5 P1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2020-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-gen and nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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