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Do women respond less to performance pay? Building evidence from multiple experiments

Author

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  • Bandiera, Oriana
  • Fischer, Greg
  • Prat, Andrea
  • Ytsma, Erina

Abstract

Performance pay increases productivity but also earnings inequality. Can it widen the gender gap because women are less responsive? We provide answers by aggregating evidence from existing experiments on performance pay that have both male and female subjects, regardless of whether they test for gender differences. We develop a Bayesian hierarchical model (BHM) that allows us to estimate both the average effect and the heterogeneity across studies. We find that the gender response difference is close to zero and heterogeneity across studies is small. We also find that the average effect of performance pay is positive, increasing output by 0.28 standard deviations. The data are thus strongly supportive of agency theory for men and women alike.

Suggested Citation

  • Bandiera, Oriana & Fischer, Greg & Prat, Andrea & Ytsma, Erina, 2016. "Do women respond less to performance pay? Building evidence from multiple experiments," CEPR Discussion Papers 11724, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11724
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    Cited by:

    1. Beugnot, Julie & Fortin, Bernard & Lacroix, Guy & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2017. "Gender and Peer Effects in Social Networks," IZA Discussion Papers 10588, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Clot, Sophie & Della Giusta, Marina & Razzu, Giovanni, 2020. "Gender Gaps in Competition: New Experimental Evidence from UK Professionals," IZA Discussion Papers 13323, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Chiara Bocci & Annalisa Caloffi & Marco Mariani & Alessandro Sterlacchini, 2023. "Evaluating Public Support to the Investment Activities of Business Firms: A Multilevel Meta-Regression Analysis of Italian Studies," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 9(1), pages 1-34, March.
    4. Anand, Gautam & Atluri, Aishwarya & Crawfurd, Lee & Pugatch, Todd & Sheth, Ketki, 2023. "Improving school management in low and middle income countries: A systematic review," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    5. Castaing,Pauline & Gazeaud,Jules, 2022. "Do Index Insurance Programs Live Up to Their Promises ? Aggregating Evidence from Multiple Experiments," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10161, The World Bank.
    6. Oriana Bandiera & Nidhi Parekh & Barbara Petrongolo & Michelle Rao, 2022. "Men are from Mars, and Women Too: A Bayesian Meta‐analysis of Overconfidence Experiments," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(S1), pages 38-70, June.
    7. Sophie Clot & Marina Della Giusta & Giovanni Razzu, 2020. "Gender gaps in competition: new experimental evidence from UK," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2020-15, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    8. Guiteras, Raymond P. & Jack, B. Kelsey, 2018. "Productivity in piece-rate labor markets: Evidence from rural Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 42-61.
    9. Della Giusta, Marina & Clot, Sophie & Razzu, Giovanni, 2019. "The behavioural foundations of female entrepreneurship: what can experiments teach us?," MPRA Paper 91483, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Beugnot, Julie & Fortin, Bernard & Lacroix, Guy & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2019. "Gender and peer effects on performance in social networks," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 207-224.
    11. Laura Battaglia & Timothy M. Christensen & Stephen Hansen & Szymon Sacher, 2024. "Inference for regression with variables generated from unstructured data," CeMMAP working papers 10/24, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    12. Beugnot, Julie & Fortin, Bernard & Lacroix, Guy & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2017. "Gender and Peer Effects in Social Networks," IZA Discussion Papers 10588, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Gürtler, Oliver & Struth, Lennart & Thon, Max, 2023. "Competition and risk-taking," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    14. Gechert, Sebastian & Mey, Bianka & Opatrny, Matej & Havranek, Tomas & Stanley, T. D. & Bom, Pedro R. D. & Doucouliagos, Hristos & Heimberger, Philipp & Irsova, Zuzana & Rachinger, Heiko J., 2023. "Conventional Wisdom, Meta-Analysis, and Research Revision in Economics," EconStor Preprints 280745, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Alison L. Booth & Patrick Nolen, 2022. "Gender and Psychological Pressure in Competitive Environments: A Laboratory‐based Experiment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(S1), pages 71-85, June.
    16. Bosworth, Steven J. & Clot, Sophie & Della Giusta, Marina, 2019. "DIY or Ask Someone Nice?," IZA Discussion Papers 12406, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Albarran, Pedro & Battaglia, Marianna & Sartarelli, Marcello, 2022. "The psychological effect of a math signal," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    18. Florian Englmaier & Stefan Grimm & Dominik Grothe & David Schindler & Simeon Schudy, 2021. "The Efficacy of Tournaments for Non-Routine Team Tasks," CESifo Working Paper Series 9189, CESifo.
    19. Baktash, Mehrzad B. & Heywood, John S. & Jirjahn, Uwe, 2024. "Variable Pay and Work Hours: Does Performance Pay Reduce the Gender Time Gap?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1450, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. Sophie Clot & Marina Della Giusta & Amalia Di Girolamo, 2018. "Keep Calm and Carry on: Gender Differences in Endurance," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2018-03, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    21. Jakob Alfitian & Dirk Sliwka & Timo Vogelsang, 2021. "When Bonuses Backfire: Evidence from the Workplace," Natural Field Experiments 00725, The Field Experiments Website.
    22. 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.
    23. Difang Huang & Zhengyang Bao, 2020. "Gender Differences in Reaction to Enforcement Mechanisms: A Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment," Monash Economics Working Papers 08-20, Monash University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage differentials; Gender; Econometrics; Meta-analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General

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