Review of Behavioral Economics > Vol 12 > Issue 1

Relative Feedback Response in Competitive Environments

Diego Aycinena, University of Pennsylvania, USA, diegoay@sas.upenn.edu , Rimvydas Baltaduonis, Gettysburg College, USA, rbaltadu@gettysburg.edu , Haylee Downey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA, hmdowney@vtc.vt.edu , Kristian Fors, Independent Researcher, USA, krfors@gmail.com , Lucas Rentschler, Utah State University, USA, lucas.rentschler@usu.edu
 
Suggested Citation
Diego Aycinena, Rimvydas Baltaduonis, Haylee Downey, Kristian Fors and Lucas Rentschler (2025), "Relative Feedback Response in Competitive Environments", Review of Behavioral Economics: Vol. 12: No. 1, pp 49-67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/105.00000203

Publication Date: 23 Jan 2025
© 2025 D. Aycinena, R. Baltaduonis, H. Downey, K. Fors and L. Rentschler
 
Subjects
Behavioral economics,  Experimental economics,  Psychology,  Gender and ethnicity
 
Keywords
JEL Codes: L0, C9
Gender, feedback, competition
 

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In this article:
Introduction 
Related Literature 
Experimental Design 
Results 
Conclusion 
References 

Abstract

Relative performance feedback is common in competitive environments. Such feedback, especially when it is negative, is more likely to affect beliefs in women (Roberts and Nolen-Hoeksema, 1989). We investigate the effect of relative performance feedback on subsequent performance in a winner-take-all environment. We find that feedback slightly reduces the performance of men. Women, on the other hand, respond to negative feedback by increasing their subsequent performance, even when doing so is unlikely to affect the likelihood of winning.

DOI:10.1561/105.00000203

Online Appendix | 105.00000203_app.pdf

This is the article's accompanying appendix.

DOI: 10.1561/105.00000203_app