Prosocial option increases women's entry into competition.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Economics
• Experimental Economics
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Gender disparities in competitive behavior are well-documented across various fields.
• Traditional tournament structures may inadvertently discourage female participation.
• Understanding the impact of incentive structures on competition entry is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether socially oriented incentives can equalize men's and women's rates of entering competitions.
• To determine if altering reward structures affects gender-based differences in competitive choices.
• To analyze the specific changes in women's and men's participation under different incentive conditions.

Main Methods:

• An experiment was conducted with 238 subjects across three laboratories.
• Two incentive conditions were compared: a standard tournament and a socially oriented tournament.
• Participants' choices to enter the competition were recorded in each condition.

Main Results:

• In the standard tournament, 16% more men than women chose to compete.
• This gender gap in competition entry was eliminated under the socially oriented incentive.
• Women's competition entry rate increased from 35% to 60% in the socially oriented condition, while men's remained stable at approximately 52%.

Conclusions:

• Socially oriented incentive systems can effectively close the gender gap in competition entry.
• Women's participation in competitions is significantly influenced by the social or altruistic components of reward systems.
• These findings suggest that modifying incentive designs can promote greater gender equity in competitive environments.