Competitiveness has been traditionally thought to increase productivity. However, some studies, have shown that competition can affect women's performance negatively. In order to design better strategies that promote the performance of all genders and increase the overall performance, it is important to understand why this is the case. Therefore, this thesis tries to better understand how competition tends to negatively affect women’s performance, by studying what can influence the performance in general. According to Booth & Nolan (2022) the type of opponent can affect behavior and results in competitive environments. Therefore, this thesis also analysis if there is a performance difference competing against a real person (in the following called real-other) or an uncertain goal (in the following called threshold).
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Related Literature
3 Hypotheses
4 Experimental Design and Procedure
5 Results
5.1 Socio-demographics & General Performance Results
5.2 Distributions of Performance and Performance Change
5.3 Main results
5.3.1 General Structure of the Analysis
5.3.2 Results from Hypothesis Women against a Threshold or a Real-other
5.3.3 Results from Hypothesis Men against a Threshold or a Real-other
5.3.4 Results from Changes in Performance after negative Performance Feedback by Gender
5.3.5 Results from Change in Performance after Positive Performance Feedback by Gender
6 Conclusion
Research Objectives and Core Themes
This thesis examines the origins of gender differences in performance within competitive environments by investigating how the type of opponent—specifically, a random threshold versus a real human competitor—influences individual performance and reactions to feedback. The research aims to clarify whether observed gender gaps are rooted in competitive pressure or other behavioral factors, thereby informing more gender-neutral strategies for recruitment and evaluation.
- The influence of opponent types (threshold vs. real-other) on gender-specific performance.
- The impact of positive and negative performance feedback on subsequent effort and productivity.
- Mechanisms such as pressure, social norms, and feedback aversion as drivers of performance variance.
- Comparison of performance changes in participants classified as losers or winners in initial rounds.
Excerpt from the Book
1 Introduction
Competitiveness has been traditionally thought to increase productivity (Lazear & Rosen, 1981). However, e.g., Gneezy et al. (2003) and Gneezy & Rustichini (2004), have shown that competition can affect women's performance negatively. In order to design better strategies that promote the performance of both genders and increase the overall performance, it is important to understand why this is the case. Therefore, this thesis tries to better understand how competition tends to negatively affect women’s performance, by studying what can influence the performance in general. According to Booth & Nolan (2022) the type of opponent can affect behavior and results in competitive environments. Therefore, this thesis also analysis if there is a performance difference competing against a real person (in the following called real-other) or an uncertain goal (in the following called threshold). This threshold can be, for example, a productivity threshold for achieving a bonus-relevant target or a minimum score in a university entrance or recruitment test. Since the partially lower performance of women is not due to lower ability, according to for example Niederle & Vesterlund (2010) but to other factors, such as the intensity of competition, a more gender-neutral design of university entrance test, recruitment tests and job interviews, for example, can help to reduce gender inequality or gender gaps according to payment (in relation to payment schemes with bonuses) and be more equally represented in (high-stake) universities and management positions.
In this context, it matters who a person is competing with. For example, Gneezy et al. (2003) and Booth & Yamamura (2018), found that the gender performance gap is larger in mixed-sex compared to single-sex tournaments. This results from men trying even harder to outperform women, while they only strive to equal the performance of other males (Booth & Yamamura, 2018; Booth & Nolan, 2022). In some cases, men’s performance rises under competitive circumstances, but that of women is not significantly affected (Gneezy et al., 2003; Bellemare et al., 2010; Cotton et al., 2013; Booth & Yamamura, 2018; Jetter & Walker, 2020; Booth & Nolan, 2022). In other cases, women’s performance even declines in competition (Gneezy & Rustichini, 2004; Cahlíková et al., 2020; Backus et al., 2023). And finally, some research has not found significant difference between women’s and men’s performance in competitive environments (Dreber et al., 2011; Dreber et al. 2014).
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: Discusses the motivation, research gap regarding gender differences in competitive environments, and outlines the focus on threshold versus real human opponents.
2 Related Literature: Provides a comprehensive overview of existing studies categorized by willingness to enter competition, willingness to keep competing, and performance, including mechanisms like pressure and feedback.
3 Hypotheses: Formulates the three central testable hypotheses concerning women's performance, men's performance against different opponents, and reactions to negative feedback.
4 Experimental Design and Procedure: Details the structure of the online experiment, the real-effort counting task, the payment schemes, and the variables collected for analysis.
5 Results: Presents the statistical evaluation of socio-demographics and the performance outcomes, including robustness checks through regression models for all established hypotheses.
6 Conclusion: Reflects on the findings regarding the absence of significant performance divergence due to opponent type and suggests implications, limitations, and future research directions.
Keywords
Competition, Gender Differences, Performance, Threshold, Real-other, Feedback, Competitive Pressure, Social Norms, Stereotype Threat, Real-effort Task, Tournament, Labor Economics, Behavioral Economics, Online Experiment, Robustness
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
This research focuses on whether performance differences between genders in competitive environments are influenced by the nature of the opponent—either an abstract, random threshold or an actual human peer.
What are the primary thematic fields addressed?
The study navigates through competition theory, gender-specific behavioral responses, the impact of performance feedback, and the role of various pressures such as time constraints and peer perception.
What is the main hypothesis of the study?
The work tests three hypotheses: whether women perform better against a threshold than a human, whether men perform better against a human than a threshold, and whether women are more negatively affected by failure than men.
What scientific methodology is employed?
The author conducted an online, laboratory-based, within-subject real-effort experiment involving a standardized box-counting task, complemented by regression analyses on socio-demographic and performance data.
What does the main body of the paper cover?
The main body examines literature on existing mechanisms of competition, defines experimental parameters, presents statistical analysis of the experiment results, and validates these results through structured regression models.
Which keywords best describe this study?
Key terms include Competition, Gender Differences, Performance, Feedback, Threshold, Real-other, Competitive Pressure, and Social Norms.
Did the experiment find a significant gender performance gap based on the opponent?
No, the results indicate no statistically significant differences in performance outcome when comparing competition against a random threshold versus a real human opponent.
How do participants react to different types of feedback?
While the study found no significant reaction differences to negative feedback, there is evidence that positive feedback may have a specific, positive effect on the performance of women compared to men.
Why were the participants recruited via Prolific?
Prolific was chosen to efficiently gather a controlled group of participants for an online, real-effort experiment, allowing for consistent data collection while maintaining anonymity.
What limitations does the author mention?
Limitations include the lack of a representative sample of the total population, the deliberate exclusion of subjective personality traits like Big5 from the core hypothesis evaluation, and the inability to analyze non-binary participants due to small sample sizes.
- Citation du texte
- Daniel Fedeler (Auteur), 2023, Gender Dynamics in Competitive Environments. Exploring Performance Disparities and Influencing Factors, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1446931
