Recent lab and field experiments suggest that women are less effective than men in a competitive environment. In this paper I examine how individual performance in a real work place is affected by a competitive environment and by its gender mix. The competition is among math, English and Language teachers who participated in a rank order tournament that rewarded teachers with large cash bonuses based on the test performance of their classes. The evidence suggest that the average ranking, winning rate and awarded prize did not differ by gender nor between teachers in competition groups with only female teachers or with both genders. I also find that the direct impact of the bonus program on students' outcomes did not vary by male and female teachers or by the type of competitive environment in terms of gender mix of the participants. As for mechanisms that can explain these results, I found no differences by either gender or by the gender mix of the competition group in teachers' awareness and familiarity with the program and its rules, and in effort and teaching methods. Women though were more pessimistic about the effectiveness of teachers' performance pay and more realistic than men about their likelihood of winning bonuses.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
14338.
Length: Date of creation: Sep 2008 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14338
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Find related papers by JEL classification: I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
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