Psychological pressure in competitive environments: New evidence from randomized natural experiments

Martin Kocher, Marc V. Lenz and Matthias Sutter

Munich Reprints in Economics from University of Munich, Department of Economics

Abstract: Dynamic competitive settings may create psychological pressure when feedback about the performance of competitors is provided before the end of the competition. Such psychological pressure could produce a first-mover advantage, despite a priori equal winning probabilities. Using data from a randomized natural experiment-penalty shootouts in soccer-we reexamine evidence by Apesteguia and Palacios-Huerta [Apesteguia J, Palacios-Huerta I (2010) Psychological pressure in competitive environments: Evidence from a randomized natural experiment. Amer. Econom. Rev. 100(5):2548-2564]. They report a 21-percentage-point advantage for first movers over second movers in terms of winning probabilities. Extending their sample of 129 shootouts to 540, we fail to detect any significant first-mover advantage. Our results are fully consistent with recent evidence from other sports contests.

JEL-codes: C93 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-08
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (97)

Published in Management Science 8 58(2012-08): pp. 1585-1591

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Journal Article: Psychological Pressure in Competitive Environments: New Evidence from Randomized Natural Experiments (2012)
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