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Why women don’t run: Experimental evidence on gender differences in political competition aversion

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  • Preece, Jessica
  • Stoddard, Olga

Abstract

Women's underrepresentation in leadership positions has been well documented, but the reasons behind it are not well understood. We carry out a field experiment to test a prominent theory about the source of the gender gap in leadership ambition: women's higher aversion to competitive environments. Using politics as a context for our study, we employ two distinct subject pools – highly politically active individuals and workers from an online labor market. We find that priming individuals to consider the competitive nature of politics has a strong negative effect on women's interest in political office, but not on men's interest, hence significantly increasing the gender gap in leadership ambition.

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  • Preece, Jessica & Stoddard, Olga, 2015. "Why women don’t run: Experimental evidence on gender differences in political competition aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 296-308.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:117:y:2015:i:c:p:296-308
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.04.019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Alempaki, Despoina & Starmer, Chris & Tufano, Fabio, 2019. "On the priming of risk preferences: The role of fear and general affect," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PA).
    3. D’Attoma, John & Volintiru, Clara & Steinmo, Sven, 2017. "Willing to share? Tax compliance and gender in Europe and America," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 89397, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Vincenzo Galasso & Tommaso Nannicini, 2016. "Persuasion and Gender: Experimental Evidence from Two Political Campaigns," CESifo Working Paper Series 5868, CESifo.
    5. Adam Ayaita, 2021. "The Role of Personality for Gender Gaps in Political Interest and Activity," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1150, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    6. Galasso, Vincenzo & Nannicini, Tommaso, 2016. "Persuasion and Gender: Experimental Evidence from Two Political Campaigns," CEPR Discussion Papers 11238, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Pate, Jennifer & Fox, Richard, 2018. "Getting past the gender gap in political ambition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 166-183.
    8. Jeffrey A. Flory & Andreas Leibbrandt & Christina Rott & Olga Stoddard, 2021. "Increasing Workplace Diversity: Evidence from a Recruiting Experiment at a Fortune 500 Company," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(1), pages 73-92.
    9. Mónica Ferrín, 2022. "Reassessing Gender Differences in COVID‐19 Risk Perception and Behavior," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(1), pages 31-41, January.
    10. Mourelatos, Evangelos & Krimpas, George & Giotopoulos, Konstantinos, 2022. "Sexual identity and Gender Gap in Leadership. A political intention experiment," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1187, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Nathan Barrymore & Cristian L. Dezső & Benjamin C. King, 2022. "Gender and competitiveness when earning for others: Experimental evidence and implications for sponsorship," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5), pages 905-934, May.
    12. Lippmann, Quentin, 2021. "Are gender quotas on candidates bound to be ineffective?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 661-678.
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    14. Priyanka Chakraborty & Danila Serra, 2021. "Gender and leadership in organizations: Promotions, demotions and angry workers," Working Papers 20210104-001, Texas A&M University, Department of Economics.

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