Women prefer not to participate in competitive situations when making decisions for themselves, study finds

Although the majority of decisions in life are made by the individual, many are influenced by others such as teachers, managers, parents, and coworkers.

"We find that women shy away from competitive environments more than men when deciding for themselves, only 35% of women choose to compete compared to 56% of men. But, when choosing for others, more women compete, resulting in an equal representation of men and women," says Helena Fornwagner of the University of Regensburg and University of Exeter.

Women prefer not to participate in competitive situations when making decisions for themselves,but when deciding for others, they are all in.

The study "Choosing Competition on Behalf of Someone Else," conducted by Fornwagner in collaboration with Nina Serdarevic of the Centre for Applied Research, FAIR Insight Team, and Monika Pompeo of the University of Bologna, reveals that despite these results, there are fewer payoff-maximizing outcomes than when individuals make their own decisions.

"Gender plays an essential role in most labor market decisions, particularly those relating to the willingness to compete. Nonetheless, when making competitive decisions on behalf of others, we show that gender does not matter; neither the gender of the person deciding nor the person one is deciding for," concludes Fornwagner.

Journal Reference: Helena Fornwagner, Monika Pompeo, Nina Serdarevic. Choosing Competition on Behalf of Someone Else. Management Science, 2022; DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2022.4413