Male and Female Competitive Behavior: Experimental Evidence

Nabanita Datta Gupta, Anders Poulsen () and Marie Claire Villeval

No 1833, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: competition; relative ability; risk-aversion; gender; piece rate; tournament; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C70 C91 J16 J24 J31 M52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2005-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (106)

Published - revised version published as 'Gender Matching and Competitiveness: Experimental Evidence' in: Economic Inquiry, 2013, 51 (1), 816–835.

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Related works:
Working Paper: Male and Female Competitive Behavior - Experimental Evidence (2005)
Working Paper: Male and Female Competitive Behavior - Experimental Evidence (2005)
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