IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v236y2025ics0167268125002434.html

When expert advice fails to reduce the productivity gap: Experimental evidence from chess players

Author

Listed:
  • Bouacida, Elias
  • Foucart, Renaud
  • Jalloul, Maya

Abstract

We study the impact of external advice on the relative performance of chess players. We asked players in chess tournaments to evaluate positions in past games and allowed them to revise their evaluation after observing the answers of a higher or a lower-ability adviser. Although high-quality advice has the potential to serve as a “great equalizer,” reducing the difference between higher- and lower-ability players, it did not happen in our experiment. One reason is that lower-ability players tend to pay a higher premium by sticking to their initial evaluation rather than following high-quality advice.

Suggested Citation

  • Bouacida, Elias & Foucart, Renaud & Jalloul, Maya, 2025. "When expert advice fails to reduce the productivity gap: Experimental evidence from chess players," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125002434
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107124
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268125002434
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107124?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anthony Strittmatter & Uwe Sunde & Dainis Zegners, 2020. "Life cycle patterns of cognitive performance over the long run," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(44), pages 27255-27261, November.
    2. Kathryn N. Vasilaky & J. Michelle Brock, 2020. "Power(ful) guidelines for experimental economists," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 6(2), pages 189-212, December.
    3. Chade, Hector & Eeckhout, Jan, 2018. "Matching information," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(1), January.
    4. Rader, Christina A. & Soll, Jack B. & Larrick, Richard P., 2015. "Pushing away from representative advice: Advice taking, anchoring, and adjustment," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 26-43.
    5. Filippo Pavesi & Massimo Scotti & Nicola Argelli, 2024. "Information and expertise," Chapters, in: Daphne R. Raban & Julia WÅ‚odarczyk (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Information Economics, chapter 11, pages 202-223, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Jason J Sandvik & Richard E Saouma & Nathan T Seegert & Christopher T Stanton, 2020. "Workplace Knowledge Flows," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(3), pages 1635-1680.
    7. repec:osf:osfxxx:hdjpk_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Björn Bartling & Ernst Fehr & Holger Herz, 2014. "The Intrinsic Value of Decision Rights," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82, pages 2005-2039, November.
    9. Randolph Sloof & Ferdinand A. Siemens, 2017. "Illusion of control and the pursuit of authority," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 20(3), pages 556-573, September.
    10. Steffen Künn & Christian Seel & Dainis Zegners, 2022. "Cognitive Performance in Remote Work: Evidence from Professional Chess," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(643), pages 1218-1232.
    11. José De Sousa & Muriel Niederle, 2022. "Trickle-Down Effects of Affirmative Action: A Case Study in France," NBER Working Papers 30367, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Georg Weizsacker, 2010. "Do We Follow Others When We Should? A Simple Test of Rational Expectations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2340-2360, December.
    13. Dilmaghani, Maryam, 2021. "The gender gap in competitive chess across countries: Commanding queens in command economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 425-441.
    14. Dorothea Kübler & Georg Weizsäcker, 2004. "Limited Depth of Reasoning and Failure of Cascade Formation in the Laboratory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 71(2), pages 425-441.
    15. José De Sousa & Guillaume Hollard, 2023. "From Micro to Macro Gender Differences: Evidence from Field Tournaments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3358-3399, June.
    16. Anderson, Lisa R & Holt, Charles A, 1997. "Information Cascades in the Laboratory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(5), pages 847-862, December.
    17. Otis, Nicholas G. & Clarke, Rowan Philip & Delecourt, Solene & Holtz, David & Koning, Rembrand, 2023. "The Uneven Impact of Generative AI on Entrepreneurial Performance," OSF Preprints hdjpk, Center for Open Science.
    18. Johannes Carow & Niklas M. Witzig, 2024. "Time Pressure and Strategic Risk-Taking in Professional Chess," Working Papers 2404, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    19. David Owens Jr. & Zachary Grossman Jr. & Ryan Fackler Jr., 2014. "The Control Premium: A Preference for Payoff Autonomy," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 138-161, November.
    20. Barton H. Hamilton & Jack A. Nickerson & Hideo Owan, 2003. "Team Incentives and Worker Heterogeneity: An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Teams on Productivity and Participation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(3), pages 465-497, June.
    21. Erik Brynjolfsson & Danielle Li & Lindsey Raymond, 2025. "Generative AI at Work," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 140(2), pages 889-942.
    22. Fischer, Mira & Rilke, Rainer Michael & Yurtoglu, B. Burcin, 2023. "When, and why, do teams benefit from self-selection?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 749-774.
    23. Mira Fischer & Rainer Michael Rilke & B. Burcin Yurtoglu, 2023. "When, and why, do teams benefit from self-selection?," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(4), pages 749-774, September.
    24. Steffen Künn & Juan Palacios & Nico Pestel, 2023. "Indoor Air Quality and Strategic Decision Making," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(9), pages 5354-5377, September.
    25. Julio González-Díaz & Ignacio Palacios-Huerta & José M. Abuín, 2024. "Personal Bests and Gender," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(2), pages 409-422, March.
    26. Nikhil Agarwal & Alex Moehring & Pranav Rajpurkar & Tobias Salz, 2023. "Combining Human Expertise with Artificial Intelligence: Experimental Evidence from Radiology," NBER Working Papers 31422, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. John J. Conlon & Malavika Mani & Gautam Rao & Matthew W. Ridley & Frank Schilbach, 2022. "Not Learning from Others," NBER Working Papers 30378, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Bilen, Eren & Matros, Alexander, 2023. "The Queen's Gambit: Explaining the superstar effect using evidence from chess," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 307-324.
    29. Kyle Herkenhoff & Jeremy Lise & Guido Menzio & Gordon M. Phillips, 2024. "Production and Learning in Teams," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(2), pages 467-504, March.
    30. Steven D. Levitt & John A. List & Sally E. Sadoff, 2011. "Checkmate: Exploring Backward Induction among Chess Players," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(2), pages 975-990, April.
    31. Joseph Henrich & Steven J. Heine & Ara Norenzayan, 2010. "Most people are not WEIRD," Nature, Nature, vol. 466(7302), pages 29-29, July.
    32. Jason Sandvik & Richard Saouma & Nathan Seegert & Christopher T. Stanton, 2021. "Should Workplace Programs be Voluntary or Mandatory? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Mentorship," NBER Working Papers 29148, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Peter Backus & Maria Cubel & Matej Guid & Santiago Sánchez‐Pagés & Enrique López Mañas, 2023. "Gender, competition, and performance: Evidence from chess players," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 14(1), pages 349-380, January.
    34. Bonaccio, Silvia & Dalal, Reeshad S., 2006. "Advice taking and decision-making: An integrative literature review, and implications for the organizational sciences," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 127-151, November.
    35. Aristotelis Boukouras & Theodore Alysandratos & Sotiris Georganas & Zacharias Maniadis, 2020. "The Expert and The Charlatan: an Experimental Study in Economic Advice," Discussion Papers in Economics 20/06, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    36. Crawford, Vincent P & Sobel, Joel, 1982. "Strategic Information Transmission," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1431-1451, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Foucart, Renaud & Zeng, Fanqi & Wang, Shidong, 2025. "The Social Importance of Being Stubborn When an Organization Meets AI," SocArXiv nfgy3_v1, Center for Open Science.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elias Bouacida & Renaud Foucart & Maya Jalloul, 2024. "Decreasing Differences in Expert Advice," Working Papers 408394204, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    2. Foucart, Renaud & Zeng, Fanqi & Wang, Shidong, 2025. "The Social Importance of Being Stubborn When an Organization Meets AI," SocArXiv nfgy3_v1, Center for Open Science.
    3. Foucart, Renaud & Tan, Jonathan H.W. & Zhao, Zichen, 2025. "Endogenous formation of optimal teams," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    4. Carow, Johannes & Witzig, Niklas M., 2025. "Time pressure and strategic risk-taking in professional chess," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    5. Özalp Özer & Upender Subramanian & Yu Wang, 2018. "Information Sharing, Advice Provision, or Delegation: What Leads to Higher Trust and Trustworthiness?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 474-493, January.
    6. Peng, Diefeng & Rao, Yulei & Sun, Xianming & Xiao, Erte, 2025. "Optional disclosure and observational learning," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    7. Klockmann, Victor & von Schenk, Alicia & von Siemens, Ferdinand A., 2021. "Division of labor and the organization of knowledge in production: A laboratory experiment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 196-210.
    8. Ertac, Seda & Gumren, Mert & Gurdal, Mehmet Y., 2020. "Demand for decision autonomy and the desire to avoid responsibility in risky environments: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    9. Cao, Qian & Li, Jianbiao & Niu, Xiaofei, 2019. "The role of overconfidence in overweighting private information: Does gender matter?," EconStor Preprints 203448, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Elias Bouacida & Renaud Foucart, 2022. "Rituals of Reason," Working Papers 344119591, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    11. Silvia Lübbecke & Wendelin Schnedler, 2020. "Don't patronize me! An experiment on preferences for authorship," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 420-438, April.
    12. Dell'Era, Michele, 2019. "Talking to Influence and the Consulting Paradox," MPRA Paper 93803, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Penczynski, Stefan P., 2017. "The nature of social learning: Experimental evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 148-165.
    14. Antonio Estache & Renaud Foucart & Konstantinos Georgalos, 2024. "Preference for Control vs. Random Dictatorship," Working Papers ECARES 2024-10, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    15. Maria Forlicz & Tomasz Rólczyński & Biagio Simonetti, 2023. "Illusion of prediction possibility of random outcomes: experimental results," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 481-495, October.
    16. Pikulina, Elena S. & Tergiman, Chloe, 2020. "Preferences for power," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    17. Bilen, Eren & Matros, Alexander, 2023. "The Queen's Gambit: Explaining the superstar effect using evidence from chess," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 307-324.
    18. Li, Zhaomin & Cao, Qian & Luo, Jun & Niu, Xiaofei, 2025. "Gender differences in the tendency to follow private information: Evidence from a social learning game," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Björn Bartling & Alexander W. Cappelen & Henning Hermes & Marit Skivenes & Bertil Tungodden, 2023. "Free to fail? Paternalistic preferences in the United States," ECON - Working Papers 436, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised May 2025.
    20. Van Parys, Jessica & Ash, Elliott, 2018. "Sequential decision-making with group identity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-18.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125002434. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.