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Culture and Gender Differences in Willingness to Compete

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  • Karen Evelyn Hauge
  • Andreas Kotsadam
  • Anine Riege

Abstract

We investigate how culture affects gender differences in willingness to compete in a large pre-registered experiment using an epidemiological approach. Our sample of 1,943 Norwegians with parents born in 59 different countries shows a smaller gender gap in willingness to compete among individuals of more gender-equal ancestries. The difference is driven by women with parents from more gender-equal countries wanting to compete more and men with the same ancestry wanting to compete less. The results are robust to controlling for a large set of factors at the individual, parental and ancestral country levels, indicating that gendered culture shapes competitive preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Karen Evelyn Hauge & Andreas Kotsadam & Anine Riege, 2023. "Culture and Gender Differences in Willingness to Compete," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2403-2426.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:133:y:2023:i:654:p:2403-2426.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bredtmann, Julia & Otten, Sebastian, 2023. "Natives' gender norms and the labor market integration of female immigrants," Ruhr Economic Papers 1042, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    3. Görg, Holger & Jäkel, Ina C., 2024. "Beyond Borders: Do Gender Norms and Institutions Affect Female Businesses?," IZA Discussion Papers 17123, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Valeria Maggian & Ludovica Spinola, 2024. "Spillover effects of cooperative behaviour when switching tasks: the role of gender," Working Papers 2024: 09, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    5. Görg, Holger & Jäkel, Ina Charlotte, 2024. "Beyond borders: Do gender norms and institutions affect female businesses?," Kiel Working Papers 2273, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

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