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Gender differences in reactions to feedback and willingness to compete

Author

Listed:
  • Noémi Berlin

    (Edin. - University of Edinburgh)

  • Marie-Pierre Dargnies

    (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

In Western societies, it is generally known that men have a greater taste for competition than women. However, the determinants of the decision to enter competitions are still not fully understood. The aim of this paper is twofold. We first evaluate how participants update their beliefs after receiving feedback informing them of whether their performance is below or above the median performance. Second, we are interested in how men and women react to this information in terms of competitive entry. Our first result is that participants, and women in particular, react more strongly to the feedback they receive than would a Bayesian agent. As far as entry into competition is concerned, below-median participants adjust their entry decision according to the competition they expect to face, while above-median participants do not. However, the behaviour behind these results is quite different for men and women: women mainly react to information on their own performance, while men seem to respond more to their beliefs over the competition they will face. Moreover, most of the effect of feedback and the information regarding the level of the competition on the decision to compete seems to operate via beliefs.

Suggested Citation

  • Noémi Berlin & Marie-Pierre Dargnies, 2016. "Gender differences in reactions to feedback and willingness to compete," Post-Print hal-01955420, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01955420
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2016.08.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Experimental economics; Beliefs; Performance feedback; Gender; Competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

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