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Experimental estimates of men's and women's willingness to compete: Does the gender of the partner matter?

Author

Listed:
  • SeEun Jung

    (Department of Economics, Inha University)

  • Radu Vranceanu

    (ESSEC Business School)

Abstract

In a classical experiment, Niederle and Vesterlund (2007) used the dichotomous choice of individuals between a piece rate and a tournament payment scheme as an indication of their propensity to compete. This paper reports results from a two person interaction of a similar type to analyze whether the preference for competition is dependent on the gender of the partner. It introduces a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism to elicit individual willingness to compete (WTC), defined as the amount of money that makes an individual indifferent between the two compensation schemes. Even when controlling for risk aversion, past performance and over-confidence, the male WTC is e3.30 larger than the female WTC. The WTC instrument allows for a more precise analysis of the impact of the partner's gender on the taste for competition. WTC data confirm that in this experiment the partner's gender has not a significant impact on the propensity to compete.

Suggested Citation

  • SeEun Jung & Radu Vranceanu, 2017. "Experimental estimates of men's and women's willingness to compete: Does the gender of the partner matter?," Inha University IBER Working Paper Series 2017-5, Inha University, Institute of Business and Economic Research, revised Jul 2017.
    • Handle: RePEc:inh:wpaper:2017-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jung, SeEun & Vranceanu, Radu, 2019. "Competitive compensation and subjective well-being: The effect of culture and gender," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 90-108.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Willingness to Compete; Gender; BDM mechanism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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