No Gender Difference in Willingness to Compete When Competing against Self

摘要

While women are less willing than equally able men to compete against other people, we find no gender difference in the willingness to compete against one's own, previous score. For those worried about the inequalities resulting from women shying away from competitive settings, our results provide an alternative to simply removing competitive features from the environment—features which are partly employed to boost performance. Instead, we suggest that a restructuring of institutions, such that competitive pressure primarily concerning comparisons with oneself is enhanced, could be tried to reduce gender disparities in economic and labor market outcomes. This will be especially appropriate when ratchet-effects are not a concern, and when the competition is mainly used for motivation and remuneration rather than for selection. The fact that self-competition leads to a boost in performance similar to other-competition, suggests that firms would not have to sacrifice these properties of the competitive environment.