Keep Calm and Carry On: Gender differences in Endurance

Della Giusta, Marina and Clot, Sophie and Di Girolamo, Amalia (2019): Keep Calm and Carry On: Gender differences in Endurance.

Abstract

We investigate endurance, the capacity to maintain levels of performance through internal rather than external motivation in non-rewarding tasks and over sequences of tasks, though a lab experiment. The significant driver of performance is payment scheme order for women and payment schemes for men. Both women and men respond to social cues, through increased intrinsic motivation (ambition) for women and through extrinsic motivation (competition) for men. We suggest implications for reward schemes in the workplace and for selection into executive positions.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: gender, intrinsic motivation, endurance, monetary incentives, biased beliefs
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J7 - Labor Discrimination > J71 - Discrimination; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M1 - Business Administration > M12 - Personnel Management ; Executives; Executive Compensation; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M5 - Personnel Economics > M51 - Firm Employment Decisions ; Promotions

References

Andreoni, J. and Vesterlund, L., 2001. Which is the fair sex? Gender differences in altruism. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116(1), pp.293-312.

Apicella, Coren L., and Anna Dreber. 2015. “Sex Differences in Competitiveness: Hunter-Gatherer Women and Girls Compete Less in Gender-Neutral and Male-Centric Tasks.” Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 1 (3): 247– 69.

Bandiera, O., Fischer, G., Prat, A. and Ytsma, E., 2016. Do women respond less to performance pay? Building evidence from multiple experiments. http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=11724

Babcock, L., Recalde, M.P., Vesterlund, L. and Weingart, L., 2017. Gender differences in accepting and receiving requests for tasks with low promotability. The American Economic Review, 107(3), pp.714-747.

Babcock, L., Recalde, M.P. and Vesterlund, L., 2017. Gender Differences in the Allocation of Low-Promotability Tasks: The Role of Backlash. American Economic Review, 107(5), pp.131-35.

Bertrand, M., Goldin, C. and Katz, L.F., 2010. Dynamics of the gender gap for young professionals in the financial and corporate sectors. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2(3), pp.228-255.

Bohnet, I., 2016. What works: Gender equality by design. Harvard University Press.

Bordalo, P., Coffman, K., Gennaioli, N. and Shleifer, A., 2016. Stereotypes. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(4), pp.1753-1794.

Buser, Thomas, Muriel Niederle, and Hessel Oos- terbeek. 2014. “Gender, Competitiveness, and Career Choices.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 129 (3): 1409–47.

Buser, Thomas, Noemi Peter, and Stefan Wolter. 2017. “Gender, Competitiveness, and Study Choices in High School: Evidence from Switzerland.” American Economic Review.

Carter, M.J., 2014. Gender socialization and identity theory. Social Sciences, 3(2), pp.242- 263.

Coffman, K.B., 2014. Evidence on self-stereotyping and the contribution of ideas. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(4), pp.1625-1660.

Costa Jr, P., Terracciano, A. and McCrae, R.R., 2001. Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: robust and surprising findings. Journai of Personality and Social Psychology 81( 2),pp.322-33.

Croson, Rachel, and Uri Gneezy. 2009. Gender Differences in Preferences. Journal of Eco- nomic Literature 47 (2): 448–74.

Eckel, C. C. and Fullbrunn, S. C., 2015. Thar SHE Blows? Gender, Competition, and Bubbles in Experimental Asset Markets. American Economic Review, 105(2):906–20.

Eckel, C.C. and Grossman, P.J., 1998. Are women less selfish than men?: Evidence from dictator experiments. The economic journal, 108(448), pp.726-735.

Eckel, C.C. and Grossman, P.J., 2008. Men, women and risk aversion: Experimental evidence. Handbook of experimental economics results, 1, pp.1061-1073.

Eswaran, M., 2014. Why gender matters in economics. Princeton University Press.

Falk, A., Becker, A., Dohmen, T.J., Enke, B. and Huffman, D., 2015. The nature and predictive power of preferences: Global evidence.

Frey, B. and J. Gallus, 2017. Honours versus Money. Oxford University Press.

Gneezy, Uri, Muriel Niederle, and Aldo Rustichini. 2003. Performance in Competitive Environments: Gender Differences. Quarterly Journal of Economics 118 (3): 1049–74.

Goldin, C., 2014. A grand gender convergence: Its last chapter. The American Economic Review, 104(4), pp.1091-1119.

Howe, Leslie A. 2008. “On Competing Against Oneself, or ‘I Need to Get a Different Voice in My Head.’” Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 2 (3): 353–66.

Karwowski, M., Lebuda, I., Wisniewska, E. and Gralewski, J., 2013. Big Five Personality Traits as the Predictors of Creative Self‐Efficacy and Creative Personal Identity: Does Gender Matter?. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 47(3), pp.215-232.

Kuhn, P., Villeval, MC. (2015). Are women more attracted to cooperation than men?, The Economic Journal, 125, 115–140. Doi: 10.1111/ecoj.12122.

Locke, Edwin A. 1968. “Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives.” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 3 (2): 157– 89.

Nelson, J.A., 2014. The power of stereotyping and confirmation bias to overwhelm accurate assessment: the case of economics, gender, and risk aversion.Journal of Economic Methodology, 21(3), pp.211-231.

Nelson, J.A., 2015. Are Women Really More Risk‐Averse than Men? A Re‐Analysis of the Literature Using Expanded Methods. Journal of Economic Surveys, 29(3), pp.566-585.

Niederle, M. and Vesterlund, L., 2010. Explaining the gender gap in math test scores: The role of competition. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(2), pp.129-144.

Niederle, Muriel, and Lise Vesterlund. 2007. “Do Women Shy Away from Competition? Do Men Compete Too Much?” Quarterly Journal of Economics 122 (3): 1067–101.

Niederle, Muriel, and Lise Vesterlund. 2011. “Gender and Competition.” Annual Review of Economics 3 (1): 601–30.

Reuben, Ernesto, Paola Sapienza, and Luigi Zingales. 2015. “Taste for Competition and the Gender Gap Among Young Business Pro­ fessionals.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 21695.

Schmitt, D.P., Realo, A., Voracek, M. and Allik, J., 2008. Why can't a man be more like a woman? Sex differences in Big Five personality traits across 55 cultures. Journal of personality and social psychology, 94(1), p.168.

Schneeweis, N. and Zweimüller, M., 2012. Girls, girls, girls: Gender composition and female school choice. Economics of education review, 31(4), pp.482-500.

Sullivan, A., Joshi, H. and Leonard, D., 2011. Single‐sex schooling and labour market outcomes. Oxford Review of Education, 37(3), pp.311-332.

Zetland, D. and Della Giusta, M., 2011. Focal points, gender norms and reciprocation in public good games (No. em-dp2011-01). Henley Business School, Reading University.