Gender of the Opponent and Reaction to Competition Outcomes

We investigate how the competition outcome and the gender of the opponent affect the decision to compete again, using a lab experiment. Our experimental design adopts the strategy method to measure individuals’ reactions to winning or losing. Subjects indicate their willingness to compete again based on performance gaps with their opponents. Furthermore, gender is inferred from participant-selected- names, allowing for an exploration of the role played by the opponent’s gender. We find that all subjects are slightly more willing to compete after winning against a female opponent. Also, it is slightly more likely that they accept to re-compete against a male after winning. Males try significantly more to outperform a female after losing, and this is robust when controlling for gender stereotypes and age.