Title: Empirical Test of Gender Stereotype in the Competitive Environment
Speaker: Xinlei(Jack) Chen,Associate Professor, University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business
Time: 4:30-6:00pm, Nov.9, 2011
Location: Room 217, New Building of GSM, Peking University
Abstract:
Gender gap is a persistent finding in the labor market across countries. The explanations range from gender discrimination to gender difference in selection into competition. However, what we do not know is: once choose to compete, are women more likely to lose to men? Psychology literature suggests that men and women tend to react differently to gender stereotype by adjusting their efforts when competing against the opposite gender. As a result, men are more likely to outperform women in the competition. In this paper, we test this theory using real competition observations in an online video game context. The specific features in our data allow us to clearly identify the effect of gender stereotype. We find that men will react to gender stereotype by putting more effort when they perceive the opponents to be women, even when in fact the opponents are men, whereas women seem to be insensitive to the gender of opponents. Our findings provide additional insights to the existence of gender gap in the labor market.
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