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Do confident individuals generally work harder?

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  • Pikulina, Elena
  • Renneboog, Luc
  • Tobler, Philippe N.

Abstract

Predicting worker's effort is important in many different areas, but is often difficult. Using a laboratory experiment, we test the hypothesis that confidence, i.e. person-specific beliefs about her abilities, can be used as a generic proxy to predict effort provision. We measure confidence in the domain of financial knowledge in three different ways (self-assessed knowledge, probability-based confidence, and incentive-compatible confidence) and find a positive relation with the actual provision of effort in an unrelated domain. Additional analysis shows that the findings are independent of personal traits such as gender, age, and nationality.

Suggested Citation

  • Pikulina, Elena & Renneboog, Luc & Tobler, Philippe N., 2018. "Do confident individuals generally work harder?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 51-60.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:mulfin:v:44:y:2018:i:c:p:51-60
    DOI: 10.1016/j.mulfin.2018.01.004
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    Cited by:

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    3. Gibson, John & Norton, Douglas A. & White, Robert A., 2019. "The backward hustle: An experimental investigation of tax code notches and labor supply," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 432-445.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Confidence; Real-effort task; Financial literacy; Overconfidence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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