Gender and Willingness to Compete for High Stakes

Abstract

We examine gender differences in competitiveness, using a TV game show where the winner of an elimination competition plays a game of chance worth hundreds of thousands of euros. At several stages of the competition, contestants face a choice between continuing to compete and opting out in exchange for a comparatively modest prize. When strategic considerations are absent, we observe the well-known pattern that women are less likely to compete than men, but this difference derives entirely from women avoiding competition against men. When the decision to compete is strategic and contestants should factor in the competitiveness of others, women again avoid competing against men. Men, in turn, seem to anticipate the lower competitiveness of female opponents, as evidenced by their greater tendency to compete against women. Ability differences are unlikely to explain these results. The findings underline the importance of the gender of competitors for the analysis of differences in willingness to compete, and shed new light on the persistent gender gap at the male-dominated higher rungs of the career ladder.

Women's Empowerment as a Tool for Sustainable Development of Higher Education and Research in the Digital Age

“…The widely held misconceptions that women are less likely to aspire a management position or to do what it takes received the least support (1% and 6%) (p. 13). More importantly, women display less willingness to compete against men when stakes are high (van Dolder et al, 2020).…”

“…vertical segregation (Peterson, 2015 ;David, 2015;O'Connor, 2015); • Androcentric, i.e. men-focused, culture in HE&R institutions (Carvalho, 2010;Castilla & Berhard, 2010;Kaatz et al, 2015;Shepherd, 2017;van (Cornish & Faraday, 2004;Grogan, 2019;Moss-Racusin et al, 2012); and • Local or regional specifics of gender equality (Aina, 2013;Dranzoa, 2018;Kolomiyets-Ludwig & Kurchenko, 2018;O'Connor, 2015;Winchester & Browning, 2015;Wu & Dong, 2019;Maldonado-Maldonado & Acosta, 2018).…”

Social Distancing and Risk Taking: Evidence from a Team Game Show

“…We also examine the risky choices of contestants by gender. Women are much less represented than men (He et al, 2008;Jetter & Walker, 2018;van Dolder et al, 2020;Booth & Lee, 2021). Accordingly, 45% of pairs are male, 51% are mixed-gender and only 4% are female.…”

Gender Differences in Performance Under Competition:

“…For an overview of gender differences in the labor market, see, e.g.,Blau, Ferber, and Winkler (2013).2 The body of research on gender competition also addresses the important-but distinct-question regarding gender differences in self-selection into competitive environments (see, e.g., the seminal work ofNiederle & Vesterlund, 2007, more recently, Buser, Niederle, & Oosterbeek, 2014van Dolder, van den Assem, & Buser, 2020, and in relation to stereotypes and self-selection Hernandez-Arenaz, 2020, and the references therein).3 A notable exception isDreber, Von Essen, and Ranehill (2011) who, in an experiment with Swedish children, do not find gender difference in competitive performance in a running task.4 For extensive reviews of the stereotype threat literature in psychology, seeInzlicht and Schmader (2012) andSpencer, Logel, and Davies (2016).…”