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Do Women Respond Less to Performance Pay? Building Evidence from Multiple Experiments

Author

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  • Oriana Bandiera
  • Greg Fischer
  • Andrea Prat
  • Erina Ytsma

Abstract

Existing empirical work raises the hypothesis that performance pay—whatever its output gains—may widen the gender earnings gap because women may respond less to incentives. We evaluate this possibility by aggregating evidence from existing experiments on performance incentives with male and female subjects. Using a Bayesian hierarchical model, we estimate both the average effect and heterogeneity across studies. We find that the gender response difference is close to zero and heterogeneity across studies is small, while performance pay increases output by 0.36 standard deviations on average. The data thus support agency theory for men and women alike.

Suggested Citation

  • Oriana Bandiera & Greg Fischer & Andrea Prat & Erina Ytsma, 2021. "Do Women Respond Less to Performance Pay? Building Evidence from Multiple Experiments," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 435-454, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aerins:v:3:y:2021:i:4:p:435-54
    DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20200466
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    Cited by:

    1. Beugnot, Julie & Fortin, Bernard & Lacroix, Guy & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2019. "Gender and peer effects on performance in social networks," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 207-224.
    2. Albarran, Pedro & Battaglia, Marianna & Sartarelli, Marcello, 2022. "The psychological effect of a math signal," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    3. Castaing,Pauline & Gazeaud,Jules, 2022. "Do Index Insurance Programs Live Up to Their Promises ? Aggregating Evidence from Multiple Experiments," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10161, The World Bank.
    4. Laura Battaglia & Timothy Christensen & Stephen Hansen & Szymon Sacher, 2024. "Inference for Regression with Variables Generated by AI or Machine Learning," Papers 2402.15585, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2025.
    5. Beugnot, Julie & Fortin, Bernard & Lacroix, Guy & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2017. "Gender and Peer Effects in Social Networks," IZA Discussion Papers 10588, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Florian Englmaier & Stefan Grimm & Dominik Grothe & David Schindler & Simeon Schudy, 2024. "The Efficacy of Tournaments for Nonroutine Team Tasks," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(4), pages 921-948.
    7. Oriana Bandiera & Nidhi Parekh & Barbara Petrongolo & Michelle Rao, 2022. "Men are from Mars, and Women Too: A Bayesian Meta‐analysis of Overconfidence Experiments," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(S1), pages 38-70, June.
    8. Sebastian Gechert & Bianka Mey & Matej Opatrny & Tomas Havranek & T. D. Stanley & Pedro R. D. Bom & Hristos Doucouliagos & Philipp Heimberger & Zuzana Irsova & Heiko J. Rachinger, 2023. "Conventional Wisdom, Meta-Analysis, and Research Revision in Economics," Chemnitz Economic Papers 061, Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology.
    9. Olabisi, Michael & Maredia, Mywish & Liu, Jiawen & Ajibade, Toyin & Ajeigbe, Hakeem, 2024. "In-group competition for incentives," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    10. Sophie Clot & Marina Della Giusta & Giovanni Razzu, 2020. "Gender gaps in competition: new experimental evidence from UK," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2020-15, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    11. Guiteras, Raymond P. & Jack, B. Kelsey, 2018. "Productivity in piece-rate labor markets: Evidence from rural Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 42-61.
    12. Della Giusta, Marina & Clot, Sophie & Razzu, Giovanni, 2019. "The behavioural foundations of female entrepreneurship: what can experiments teach us?," MPRA Paper 91483, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Baktash, Mehrzad B. & Heywood, John S. & Jirjahn, Uwe, 2024. "Variable Pay and Work Hours: Does Performance Pay Reduce the Gender Time Gap?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1450, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. Sophie Clot & Marina Della Giusta & Amalia Di Girolamo, 2018. "Keep Calm and Carry on: Gender Differences in Endurance," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2018-03, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    15. Beugnot, Julie & Fortin, Bernard & Lacroix, Guy & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2017. "Gender and Peer Effects in Social Networks," IZA Discussion Papers 10588, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Clot, Sophie & Della Giusta, Marina & Razzu, Giovanni, 2020. "Gender Gaps in Competition: New Experimental Evidence from UK Professionals," IZA Discussion Papers 13323, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Gürtler, Oliver & Struth, Lennart & Thon, Max, 2023. "Competition and risk-taking," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    18. Anand, Gautam & Atluri, Aishwarya & Crawfurd, Lee & Pugatch, Todd & Sheth, Ketki, 2023. "Improving school management in low and middle income countries: A systematic review," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Chiara Bocci & Annalisa Caloffi & Marco Mariani & Alessandro Sterlacchini, 2023. "Evaluating Public Support to the Investment Activities of Business Firms: A Multilevel Meta-Regression Analysis of Italian Studies," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 9(1), pages 1-34, March.
    20. Jakob Alfitian & Dirk Sliwka & Timo Vogelsang, 2021. "When Bonuses Backfire: Evidence from the Workplace," Natural Field Experiments 00725, The Field Experiments Website.
    21. Difang Huang & Zhengyang Bao, 2020. "Gender Differences in Reaction to Enforcement Mechanisms: A Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment," Monash Economics Working Papers 08-20, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    22. Alison L. Booth & Patrick Nolen, 2022. "Gender and Psychological Pressure in Competitive Environments: A Laboratory‐based Experiment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(S1), pages 71-85, June.
    23. Klinowski, David, 2019. "Selection into self-improvement and competition pay: Gender, stereotypes, and earnings volatility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 128-146.
    24. Bosworth, Steven J. & Clot, Sophie & Della Giusta, Marina, 2019. "DIY or Ask Someone Nice?," IZA Discussion Papers 12406, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods

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