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Can being competitive but unsuccessful harm you, even more so if you are a woman?

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  • Haeckl, Simone
  • Moeller, Jakob
  • Zednik, Anita

Abstract

We investigate the fairness views of impartial spectators toward workers who behave competitively but are unsuccessful in a winner-take-all, real-effort task. In an online experiment with more than 5800 participants, spectators show significantly less concern for unsuccessful workers who voluntarily entered a competition for pay or behaved selfishly by trying to sabotage, compared to those who had to compete. We do not find evidence that women are punished more for competitive behavior than men, unless spectators have very strong gender norms.

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  • Haeckl, Simone & Moeller, Jakob & Zednik, Anita, 2025. "Can being competitive but unsuccessful harm you, even more so if you are a woman?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125002276
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107108
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    Cited by:

    1. Koch, Alexander K. & Nafziger, Julia, 2025. "Gender Norms, Stereotypical Beliefs, and Competitiveness," IZA Discussion Papers 17840, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • C99 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Other

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