Aging and Attitudes Towards Strategic Uncertainty and Competition: An Artefactual Field Experiment in a Swiss Bank

GATE Working Paper No. 1217

44 Pages Posted: 1 Jun 2012

See all articles by Thierry Madiès

Thierry Madiès

University of Fribourg - Faculty of Economics and Social Science

Marie Claire Villeval

GATE, CNRS

Malgorzata Wasmer

University of Fribourg

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: May 31, 2012

Abstract

We study the attitudes of junior and senior employees towards strategic uncertainty and competition, by means of a market entry game inspired by Camerer and Lovallo (1999). Seniors exhibit higher entry rates compared to juniors, especially when earnings depend on relative performance. This difference persists after controlling for attitudes towards non-strategic uncertainty and for beliefs on others’ competitiveness and ability. Social image matters, as evidenced by the fact that seniors enter more when they predict others enter more and when they are matched with a majority of juniors. This contradicts the stereotype of risk averse and less competitive older employees.

Keywords: Aging, risk, ambiguity, competitiveness, self-image, confidence, experiment

JEL Classification: C91, D83, J14, J24, M5

Suggested Citation

Madiès, Thierry and Villeval, Marie Claire and Wasmer, Malgorzata, Aging and Attitudes Towards Strategic Uncertainty and Competition: An Artefactual Field Experiment in a Swiss Bank (May 31, 2012). GATE Working Paper No. 1217, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2071108 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2071108

Thierry Madiès (Contact Author)

University of Fribourg - Faculty of Economics and Social Science ( email )

Fribourg, CH 1700
Switzerland

Marie Claire Villeval

GATE, CNRS ( email )

93, chemin des Mouilles
Ecully, 69130
France
+33 472 86 60 79 (Phone)
+33 472 86 60 90 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/view/marie-claire-villeval

Malgorzata Wasmer

University of Fribourg ( email )

Bd de Pérolles 90
CH-1700 Fribourg
Switzerland

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