Gender of the opponent and reaction to competition outcomes

C Mollier, A García-Gallego, T Jaber-Lopez and S Zaccagni ()
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C Mollier: EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
A García-Gallego: Universitat Jaume I = Jaume I University
T Jaber-Lopez: CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas [España] = Spanish National Research Council [Spain]
S Zaccagni: Department of Economics and Business Economics [Aarhus] - Aarhus University [Aarhus]

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Abstract: We investigate how competition outcomes and the opponent's gender affect the decision to compete again, using a lab experiment. Our experimental design adopts the strategy method to measure individuals' reactions to winning or losing. Subjects indicate their willingness to compete again based on performance gaps with their opponents. Furthermore, gender is inferred from participant-selected-names, allowing us to explore the role of the opponent's gender. Against our main hypothesis, after winning against a female opponent men exhibit a decrease in their willingness to compete again. The primary mechanism underlying men's behavior appears to be the presence of inaccurate beliefs—specifically, expecting to win but ultimately losing. Our main finding is that men with inaccurate beliefs, when competing against women, are significantly more likely to re-enter the competition and to outperform their female opponents in subsequent rounds.

Keywords: Lab experiment; Career decision; Feedback; Gender; Competitiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-gen and nep-spo
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05358737v1
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Published in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2025, 119, pp.102475. ⟨10.1016/j.socec.2025.102475⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05358737

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2025.102475

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