Can being competitive but unsuccessful harm you, even more so if you are a woman?

Simone Haeckl, Jakob Moeller and Anita Zednik

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025, vol. 236, issue C

Abstract: We investigate the fairness views of impartial spectators toward workers who behave competitively but are unsuccessful in a winner-take-all, real-effort task. In an online experiment with more than 5800 participants, spectators show significantly less concern for unsuccessful workers who voluntarily entered a competition for pay or behaved selfishly by trying to sabotage, compared to those who had to compete. We do not find evidence that women are punished more for competitive behavior than men, unless spectators have very strong gender norms.

Keywords: Gender; Competition; Backlash; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C99 D91 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Working Paper: CAN BEING COMPETITIVE BUT UNSUCCESSFUL HARM YOU, EVEN MORE SO IF YOU ARE A WOMAN? (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125002276

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107108

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