eprintid: 36879
rev_number: 26
eprint_status: archive
userid: 3114
dir: disk0/00/03/68/79
datestamp: 2025-07-16 13:45:58
lastmod: 2025-07-16 13:46:17
status_changed: 2025-07-16 13:45:58
type: workingPaper
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Cubel, Maria
creators_name: Sanchez-Pages, Santiago
creators_name: Schwieren, Christiane
creators_name: Steck, Cosima-Valerie
title: Against the Standard
subjects: ddc-330
divisions: i-181000
keywords: gender, competitive behavior, experiment, information provision
abstract: Extensive research has documented gender differences in the willingness to compete against others. Less attention has been given to situations where individuals must meet a standard of excellence to obtain rewards, such as promotions, grants, and publications. This paper investigates gender differences in competing against such standards through a laboratory experiment. Participants completed two rounds of a multiple-choice test. After the first round, they received feedback on whether they met a top-quartile performance threshold set by a reference group. Before the second round, they had to choose between a piece rate payment or a higher rate contingent upon surpassing the threshold. We compared choices across a control treatment with no feedback and three feedback conditions with varying standards: objective peer performance, peer expectations, and expert expectations. Results show that without feedback, women are less likely than men to benchmark against the standard. Feedback closes this gap when the standard is set by peers, but not when set by experts. A theoretical model and an out-of-experiment study suggest these differences stem from gendered priors about ability and asymmetric belief updating. These findings offer insights into gender differences in self-promotion and suggest ways feedback might mitigate these differences.
date: 2025
publisher: Universität
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00036879
schriftenreihe_cluster_id: sr-3
schriftenreihe_order: 0764
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-368794
language: eng
bibsort: CUBELMARIAAGAINSTTHE20250704
full_text_status: public
series: AWI Discussion Paper Series
volume: 0764
place_of_pub: Heidelberg
pages: 36
citation:   Cubel, Maria ; Sanchez-Pages, Santiago ; Schwieren, Christiane ; Steck, Cosima-Valerie  (2025) Against the Standard.  [Working paper]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/36879/8/Cubel_Against_dp764_2025.pdf