Gender Differences in Response to Competitive Organization? Differences Across Fields from a Product Development Platform Field Experiment

52 Pages Posted: 23 May 2022 Last revised: 22 Aug 2024

See all articles by Kevin Boudreau

Kevin Boudreau

Northeastern University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Nilam Kaushik

IIM Bangalore

Date Written: May 2022

Abstract

Prior research, primarily based on lab experiments, suggests that females might be more averse to competition than males and could be more inclined towards collaboration, instead. Were these findings to generalize to adults across the workforce, there could be profound implications for organizational design and personnel management. We report on a field experiment in which 97,678 adults from a wide range of fields and ages were invited to join a product development opportunity. Individuals were randomly assigned to treatments framing the opportunity as either involving competitive or collaborative interactions with other participants. Among those outside of science, technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM), we find significant gender differences in willingness to participate under competition. Among those in STEM fields, we detect no statistical gender differences. These results and broader patterns documented in the study are consistent with significant heterogeneity in competitiveness across both men and women, with field and career sorting resulting in differences (in gender differences) across fields.

Suggested Citation

Boudreau, Kevin and Kaushik, Nilam, Gender Differences in Response to Competitive Organization? Differences Across Fields from a Product Development Platform Field Experiment (May 2022). NBER Working Paper No. w30062, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4117089

Kevin Boudreau (Contact Author)

Northeastern University ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Nilam Kaushik

IIM Bangalore ( email )

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