The Effect of Feedback on Gender Differences in Competitive Choices.
38 Pages Posted: 24 Dec 2011 Last revised: 14 Dec 2016
Date Written: December 11, 2016
Abstract
We study the effect of feedback about relative performance on the choice to compete, and the demand for that feedback, using an experiment where participants can choose between piece rate and tournament compensation for simple addition tasks. The experiment was conducted in a shopping mall with 885 adults with wide demographic variation. We replicate the gender gap in competitive choices in this large and diverse sample. We find that providing free feedback about relative performance does not affect the overall gender gap, but does affect the choices to compete by gender and ability. When feedback is costly, females are less likely to buy it than are men, and the reduction in the competitive choice gender gap for high ability individuals is smaller than when feedback is costless. The gender gap in feedback demand varies with age and confidence.
Keywords: Gender, Feedback, Competition, Age
JEL Classification: D00, J00, J16, C90
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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