Performing best when it matters most: Evidence from professional tennis

Olivier Gossner, Julio González-Díaz and Brian W. Rogers
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Olivier Gossner: PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science
Julio González-Díaz: USC - Universidade de Santiago de Compostela [España] = University of Santiago de Compostela [Spain] = Université de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle [Espagne]
Brian W. Rogers: Kellogg [Northwestern] - Kellogg School of Management [Northwestern University, Evanston] - Northwestern University [Evanston]

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Abstract: Stakes affect aggregate performance in a wide variety of settings. At the individual level, we define the critical ability as an agent's ability to adapt performance to the importance of the situation. We identify individual critical abilities of professional tennis players, relying on point-level data from twelve years of the US Open tournament. We establish persistent heterogeneity in critical abilities. We find a significant statistical relationship between identified critical abilities and overall career success, which validates the identification procedure and suggests that response to pressure is a significant factor for success.

Keywords: Performance; Pressure; Heterogeneity; Critical ability; Career success (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-12
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2012, 84 (3), pp.767-781. ⟨10.1016/j.jebo.2012.09.021⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:pseptp:hal-00812984

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2012.09.021

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