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It Pays to Be a Man: Rewards for Leaders in a Coordination Game

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  • Philip J. Grossman
  • Catherine Eckel
  • Mana Komai
  • Wei Zhan

Abstract

We address followers’ gender-based perception of leader’s effectiveness. Our experiment’s design removes factors that might affect leadership success, such as risk-taking and competitiveness. We employ a repeated weakest-link coordination game; 10 periods without a leader and 10 periods after the leader makes a short, “scripted” speech advising followers on how to maximize earnings. Followers then choose a costly bonus for the leader. The leader’s gender is the only variable that changes across sessions. Followers are more likely to heed the advice of the male leaders, are less likely to ascribe success to female leaders, and reward male leaders more.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip J. Grossman & Catherine Eckel & Mana Komai & Wei Zhan, 2017. "It Pays to Be a Man: Rewards for Leaders in a Coordination Game," Monash Economics Working Papers 01-17, Monash University, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2017-01
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    3. De Paola, Maria & Gioia, Francesca & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2018. "Teamwork, Leadership and Gender," IZA Discussion Papers 11861, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Asad, Sher Afghan & Banerjee, Ritwik & Bhattacharya, Joydeep, 2020. "Do workers discriminate against their out-group employers? Evidence from the gig economy," ISU General Staff Papers 202002230800001098, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
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    10. Shanthi Manian & Ketki Sheth, 2021. "Follow My Lead: Assertive Cheap Talk and the Gender Gap," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 6880-6896, November.
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    12. Baiba Renerte & Jan Hausfeld & Torsten Twardawski, 2020. "Gender, overconfidence, and optimal group composition for investment decisions," TWI Research Paper Series 121, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    13. Kerstin Grosch, Kerstin & Müller, Stephan & Rau, Holger A. & Zhurakhovska, Lilia, 2020. "Selection into Leadership and Dishonest Behavior of Leaders: A Gender Experiment," IHS Working Paper Series 19, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    14. Nisvan Erkal & Lata Gangadharan & Boon Han Koh, 2018. "By chance or by choice? Biased attribution of others’ outcomes," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 2040, The University of Melbourne.
    15. Fumagalli, Elena & Fumagalli, Laura, 2022. "Subjective well-being and the gender composition of the reference group: Evidence from a survey experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 196-219.
    16. Alan, Sule & Corekcioglu, Gozde & Kaba, Mustafa & Sutter, Matthias, 2023. "Female Leadership and Workplace Climate," IZA Discussion Papers 16383, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Ayalew, Shibiru & Manian, Shanthi & Sheth, Ketki, 2021. "Discrimination from below: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    18. Ernesto Reuben & Krisztina Timko, 2018. "On the effectiveness of elected male and female leaders and team coordination," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 4(2), pages 123-135, December.
    19. Kerstin Grosch & Stephan Müller & Holger A. Rau & Lilia Wasserka-Zhurakhovska, 2020. "Gender Differences in Dishonesty Disappear When Leaders Make Decisions on Behalf of Their Team," CESifo Working Paper Series 8514, CESifo.
    20. Christine L Exley & Judd B Kessler, 2022. "The Gender Gap in Self-Promotion," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 137(3), pages 1345-1381.
    21. Priyanka Chakraborty & Danila Serra, 2021. "Gender and leadership in organizations: Promotions, demotions and angry workers," Working Papers 20210104-001, Texas A&M University, Department of Economics.
    22. Geraldine Guarin & J. Jobu Babin, 2021. "Collaboration and Gender Focality in Stag Hunt Bargaining," Games, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-7, May.
    23. Abel, Martin, 2019. "Do Workers Discriminate against Female Bosses?," IZA Discussion Papers 12611, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Hoffmann, Robert & Coate, Bronwyn, 2022. "Fame, What’s your name? quasi and statistical gender discrimination in an art valuation experimentc," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 184-197.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Leadership; Gender; Coordination Game;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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