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An Empirical Study on Risk Taking in Tournaments

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  • Grund, Christian
  • Gürtler, Oliver

Abstract

Individuals faced by a tournament can oftentimes not only choose their effort level, but also the risk level of their strategy. There are some theoretical contributions on risk taking in tournaments, which mainly point out disadvantages with respect to exerted effort. Empirical evidence is rare. In this paper we analyze risk taking behavior of professional soccer coaches. We find that risk taking concerning the kind of observed substitutions is, indeed, relevant. However, risk taking does not pay off.

Suggested Citation

  • Grund, Christian & Gürtler, Oliver, 2005. "An Empirical Study on Risk Taking in Tournaments," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 6/2005, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bonedp:62005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lee, Jungmin, 2004. "Prize and Risk-Taking Strategy in Tournaments: Evidence from Professional Poker Players," IZA Discussion Papers 1345, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Hans K. Hvide, 2002. "Tournament Rewards and Risk Taking," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(4), pages 877-898, October.
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    6. Ehrenberg, Ronald G & Bognanno, Michael L, 1990. "Do Tournaments Have Incentive Effects?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1307-1324, December.
    7. Barry Reilly & Robert Witt, 1995. "English league transfer prices: is there a racial dimension?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(7), pages 220-222.
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    9. R. H. Koning, 2003. "An econometric evaluation of the effect of firing a coach on team performance," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(5), pages 555-564.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mueller-Langer Frank & Andreoli-Versbach Patrick, 2017. "Leading-Effect, Risk-Taking and Sabotage in Two-Stage Tournaments: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 237(1), pages 1-28, February.
    2. Christian Deutscher & Arne Büschemann, 2016. "Does Performance Consistency Pay Off Financially for Players? Evidence From the Bundesliga," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(1), pages 27-43, January.
    3. Kräkel, Matthias, 2008. "Optimal risk taking in an uneven tournament game with risk averse players," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(11), pages 1219-1231, December.
    4. Bucciol, Alessandro & Hu, Alessio & Zarri, Luca, 2019. "The effects of prior outcomes on managerial risk taking: Evidence from Italian professional soccer," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PB).
    5. repec:lan:wpaper:3570 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Mueller-Langer, Frank & Andreoli-Versbach, Patrick, 2013. "Leading-effect vs. Risk-taking in Dynamic Tournaments: Evidence from a Real-life Randomized Experiment," Discussion Papers in Economics 15452, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    7. Grund, Christian & Höcker, Jan & Zimmermann, Stefan, 2010. "Risk Taking Behavior in Tournaments: Evidence from the NBA," IZA Discussion Papers 4812, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Mixon Jr., Franklin G. & Gómez-Mejia, Luis R., 2020. "The Competitive Struggle to Win Tournaments: The Allies’ Race to Capture Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest," American Business Review, Pompea College of Business, University of New Haven, vol. 23(1), pages 3-17, May.
    9. Gürtler, Oliver & Struth, Lennart & Thon, Max, 2023. "Competition and risk-taking," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    10. B Frick & R Simmons, 2007. "The allocation of rewards in athletic contests," Working Papers 591160, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    11. René Böheim & Christoph Freudenthaler & Mario Lackner, 2016. "Gender Differences in Risk-Taking: Evidence from Professional Basketball," Economics working papers 2016-07, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    12. Alessandro Bucciol & Alessio Hu & Luca Zarri, 2017. "The Effects of Prior Shocks on Managerial Risk Taking: Evidence from Italian Professional Soccer," Working Papers 17/2017, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    13. Stephen Easton & Sean Pinder & Steven Stern, 2018. "Documenting the functional form of dynamic risk‐taking behaviour in a real options context using sporting contests," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(S1), pages 159-178, November.
    14. Christos Genakos & Mario Pagliero, 2012. "Interim Rank, Risk Taking, and Performance in Dynamic Tournaments," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 120(4), pages 782-813.
    15. repec:lan:wpaper:3963 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Nüesch Stephan & Haas Hartmut, 2012. "Empirical Evidence on the “Never Change a Winning Team” Heuristic," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 232(3), pages 247-257, June.
    17. Ulf Rinne & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2022. "Female workers, male managers: Gender, leadership, and risk‐taking," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(3), pages 906-930, January.
    18. Kondo, Kazumine, 2011. "Have credit rating agencies become more stringent towards Japanese regional banks?," MPRA Paper 30500, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. repec:lan:wpaper:3678 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Genakos, Christos & Pagliero, Mario, 2009. "Risk taking and performance in multistage tournaments: evidence from weightlifting competitions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28599, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    21. Christian Deutscher & Oliver Gürtler & Joachim Prinz & Daniel Weimar, 2017. "The Payoff To Consistency In Performance," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(2), pages 1091-1103, April.

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