Competition between and within Universities: Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Group Identity and the Desire to Win

Abstract

We study how salient group identity, created through competition between students from different universities, as well as differences in the value of winning impact competitive behavior. Our experiment employs a simple all-pay auction within and between two university subject pools. We find that when competing against their peers, students within the lower tier university bid more aggressively than students within the top-tier university. Also, students from the lower tier university, in particular women, bid more aggressively when competing against students from the top-tier university. These findings, interpreted through a theoretical model incorporating both group identity and differential value of winning, suggest that students at the lower tier university have a stronger group identity as well as higher desire to win.

Unethical behavior and group identity in contests

“…2 Datta Gupta et al (2013) report that choosing the gender of a potential competitor influences competitiveness. Chen et al (2015) find that a salient group identity stiffens the competition between different universities. Chowdhury et al (2016) show that a more salient group identity (natural vs. minimal) escalates conflicts in a contest by motivating people to increase their effort.…”

“…Studies of group identity and cooperation have shown the importance of in-group favoritism, i.e., people treat more generously someone who shares the same group identity than someone who belongs to another social group (e.g., Charness et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2009;Goette et al, 2012). 1 Much less research has been conducted on the importance of group identity in competitive settings (e.g., Datta Gupta et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2015;Chowdhury et al, 2016;Kato et al, 2016). 2 Our contribution to this literature is exploring the impact of group identity on unethical behavior.…”

Unethical Behavior and Group Identity in Contests

“…Chen et al (2015) find that a salient group identity stiffens the competition between different universities. Chowdhury et al (2016) show that a more salient group identity (natural vs. minimal) escalates conflicts in a contest by motivating people to increase their effort.…”

“…1 Much less research has been conducted on the importance of group identity in competitive settings (e.g., Datta Gupta et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2015;Chowdhury et al, 2016;Kato et al, 2016).…”

Unethical Behavior and Group Identity in Contests

“…Studies of group identity and cooperation have shown the importance of in-group favoritism, i.e., people treat more generously someone who shares the same group identity than someone who belongs to another social group (e.g., Charness et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2009;Goette et al, 2012). 1 Much less research has been conducted on the importance of group identity in competitive settings (e.g., Datta Gupta et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2015;Chowdhury et al, 2016;Kato et al, 2016). 2 Our contribution to this literature is exploring the impact of group identity on unethical behavior.…”