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Compete with others? No, thanks. With myself? Yes, please!

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  • Apicella, Coren L.
  • Demiral, Elif E.
  • Mollerstrom, Johanna

Abstract

We study the willingness to compete against self and others in an experiment with over 650 participants, using a modified version of the Niederle and Vesterlund (2007) design. We show that introducing a possibility to self-compete, in addition to the standard other-competition option, increases the proportion of participants who compete by more than 60 percent, indicating that self-competition attracts many of those who would otherwise have stayed out of competitions altogether. This holds for both men and women. Moreover, men and women prefer self-competitions to other-competitions, especially when they have to select one of the two types of competitions. We also document that self-competitions are perceived as more controllable than other-competitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Apicella, Coren L. & Demiral, Elif E. & Mollerstrom, Johanna, 2020. "Compete with others? No, thanks. With myself? Yes, please!," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:187:y:2020:i:c:s0165176519304434
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.108878
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Muriel Niederle & Lise Vesterlund, 2007. "Do Women Shy Away From Competition? Do Men Compete Too Much?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1067-1101.
    2. Carpenter, Jeffrey & Frank, Rachel & Huet-Vaughn, Emiliano, 2018. "Gender differences in interpersonal and intrapersonal competitive behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 170-176.
    3. Coren L. Apicella & Elif E. Demiral & Johanna Mollerstrom, 2017. "No Gender Difference in Willingness to Compete When Competing against Self," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 136-140, May.
    4. Muriel Niederle & Lise Vesterlund, 2011. "Gender and Competition," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 601-630, September.
    5. Klinowski, David, 2019. "Selection into self-improvement and competition pay: Gender, stereotypes, and earnings volatility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 128-146.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bao, Zhengyang & Leibbrandt, Andreas, 2024. "Tournaments with safeguards: A blessing or a curse for women?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 292-306.
    2. Kessel, Dany & Mollerstrom, Johanna & van Veldhuizen, Roel, 2021. "Can simple advice eliminate the gender gap in willingness to compete?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Charness, Gary & Dao, Lien & Shurchkov, Olga, 2022. "Competing now and then: The effects of delay on competitiveness across gender," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 612-630.
    4. Buchanan, J., 2022. "Willingness to be paid: Who trains for tech jobs?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Stefano Piasenti & Müge Süer, 2024. "Predictive Power of Biological Sex and Gender Identity on Economic Behavior," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 513, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    6. Demiral, Elif E. & Mollerstrom, Johanna, 2024. "Competitiveness and Employability," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 110(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Competitiveness; Experiment;

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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