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Culture and Gender Differences in Willingness to Compete

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  • Karen Evelyn Hauge
  • Andreas Kotsadam
  • Anine Riege

Abstract

We investigate how culture affects gender differences in willingness to compete in a large pre-registered experiment using an epidemiological approach. Our sample of 1,943 Norwegians with parents born in 59 different countries shows a smaller gender gap in willingness to compete among individuals of more gender-equal ancestries. The difference is driven by women with parents from more gender-equal countries wanting to compete more and men with the same ancestry wanting to compete less. The results are robust to controlling for a large set of factors at the individual, parental and ancestral country levels, indicating that gendered culture shapes competitive preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Karen Evelyn Hauge & Andreas Kotsadam & Anine Riege, 2023. "Culture and Gender Differences in Willingness to Compete," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2403-2426.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:133:y:2023:i:654:p:2403-2426.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John Horton & David Rand & Richard Zeckhauser, 2011. "The online laboratory: conducting experiments in a real labor market," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 14(3), pages 399-425, September.
    2. Coren L. Apicella & Elif E. Demiral & Johanna Mollerstrom, 2017. "No Gender Difference in Willingness to Compete When Competing against Self," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 136-140, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Görg, Holger & Jäkel, Ina C., 2024. "Beyond Borders: Do Gender Norms and Institutions Affect Female Businesses?," IZA Discussion Papers 17123, IZA Network @ LISER.
    2. Mollier, C. & García-Gallego, A. & Jaber-Lopez, T. & Zaccagni, S., 2025. "Gender of the opponent and reaction to competition outcomes," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Bernd Irlenbusch & Holger A. Rau & Rainer Michael Rilke, 2026. "Human–AI Evaluation and Gender Transparency: Application Decisions in Competitive Hiring," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 398, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    4. Grosch, Kerstin & Fischer, Sabine, 2024. "Gender equivalence in overconfidence A large-scale experimental study in a non-WEIRD country," Department for Strategy and Innovation Working Paper Series 02/2024, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    5. Ralston, David A. & Terpstra-Tong, Jane & Ramburuth, Prem & Karam, Charlotte & Furrer, Olivier & Naoumova, Irina & Richards, Malika & Srinivasan, Narasimhan & León-Darder, Fidel & Reynaud, Emmanuelle , 2025. "Is there a global-business-subculture effect on gender differences? A multisociety analysis of subordinate influence on ethics behaviors," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 277-300.
    6. Valeria Maggian & Ludovica Spinola, 2024. "Spillover effects of cooperative behaviour when switching tasks: the role of gender," Working Papers 2024: 09, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    7. Bredtmann, Julia & Otten, Sebastian, 2025. "Natives’ gender norms and the labor market integration of female immigrants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    8. Görg, Holger & Jäkel, Ina Charlotte, 2024. "Beyond borders: Do gender norms and institutions affect female businesses?," Kiel Working Papers 2273, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

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