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Affirmative action, cooperation, and the willingness to work in teams

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  • Kölle, Felix

Abstract

Affirmative action policies became a popular tool to equalize gender imbalances on the labor market. In this paper, we experimentally investigate whether the implementation of gender quotas in tournaments entail negative spillover effects on subsequent team performance and selection into teams. In three different team environments, we find that the presence of a gender quota does not harm performance and cooperation within teams, and does not weaken people’s willingness to work in teams. Our results, thus, provide further evidence that gender quotas can have the desired effect of promoting women without harming efficiency. We further find that while women significantly base their decision to work in teams on their ability as well as the specific team environment, men are largely insensitive to these factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Kölle, Felix, 2017. "Affirmative action, cooperation, and the willingness to work in teams," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 50-62.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:62:y:2017:i:c:p:50-62
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2017.06.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Banerjee, Ritwik & Gupta, Nabanita Datta & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2018. "The spillover effects of affirmative action on competitiveness and unethical behavior," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 567-604.
    2. Fallucchi, Francesco & Quercia, Simone, 2018. "Affirmative action and retaliation in experimental contests," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 23-40.
    3. Daniel Weimar & Katrin Scharfenkamp, 2019. "Effort reduction of employer‐to‐employer changers: Empirical evidence from football," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 277-291, April.
    4. Petters, Lea M. & Schröder, Marina, 2020. "Negative side effects of affirmative action: How quotas lead to distortions in performance evaluation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    5. Marcinko, Andrew J. & Taylor, Chelsey, 2021. "Employee reactions to positive action policies in the United Kingdom: Does the organization’s justification matter?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Schier, Uta K., 2020. "Female and male role models and competitiveness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 55-67.
    7. Trieu, Chi, 2023. "Who's who: How uncertainty about the favored group effects outcomes of affirmative action," DICE Discussion Papers 405, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    8. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Patricia Esteve‐González & Anwesha Mukherjee, 2023. "Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(3), pages 924-974, January.
    9. Francesco Fallucchi & Simone Quercia, 2016. "Affirmative action and retaliation in experimental contests," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science (CBESS) 16-03, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    10. Ji‐Hung Choi & Hannah Oh & John Bae & Sang‐Joon Kim, 2021. "Affirmative action and team performance: An agency theoretic perspective," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(5), pages 1183-1193, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Affirmative action; Teams; Gender; Performance; Cooperation; Selection; Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

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