The Signals We Give: Performance Feedback, Gender, and Competition

References

• Abeler J, Nosenzo D, Raymond C (2019) Preferences for truth-telling. Econometrica 87(4):1115–1153.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Alan S, Ertac S, Kubilay E, Loranth G (2020) Understanding gender differences in leadership. Econom. J. 130(626):263–289.Google Scholar
• Alempaki D, Burdea V, Read D (2025) Deceptive communication: Direct lies versus ignorance, selective truth, and silence. J. Political Econom. Microeconomics 3(4):827–865. Crossref, Google Scholar
• Banerjee R, Gupta ND, Villeval M-C (2020) Feedback spillovers across tasks, self-confidence and competitiveness. Games Econom. Behav. 123:127–170.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Benistant J, Galeotti F, Villeval M-C (2022) Competition, information, and the erosion of morals. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 204:148–163.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Berlin N, Dargnies M-P (2016) Gender differences in reactions to feedback and willingness to compete. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 130:320–336.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bol JC (2011) The determinants and performance effects of managers’ performance evaluation biases. Accounting Rev. 86(5):1549–1575.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Brandts J, Rott C (2021) Advice from women and men and selection into competition. J. Econom. Psych. 82:102333.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Brandts J, Groenert V, Rott C (2015) The impact of advice on women’s and men’s selection into competition. Management Sci. 61(5):1018–1035.Link, Google Scholar
• Buchmann N, Meyer C, Sullivan CD (2025) Paternalistic discrimination. STEG Working paper, Growth Research Programme (GRP), Centre for Economic Policy Research, London.Google Scholar
• Castagnetti A, Schmacker R (2022) Protecting the ego: Motivated information selection and updating. Eur. Econom. Rev. 142:104007.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chaudhuri A, Graziano S, Maitra P (2006) Social learning and norms in a public goods experiment with inter-generational advice. Rev. Econom. Stud. 73(2):357–380.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chaudhuri A, Schotter A, Sopher B (2009) Talking ourselves to efficiency: Coordination in inter-generational minimum effort games with private, almost common and common knowledge of advice. Econom. J. 119(534):91–122.Google Scholar
• Chen S, Schildberg-Hörisch H (2019) Looking at the bright side: The motivational value of confidence. Eur. Econom. Rev. 120:103302.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chen DL, Schonger M, Wickens C (2016) oTree—An open-source platform for laboratory, online, and field experiments. J. Behav. Experiment. Finance 9:88–97.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Coffman K, Klinowski D (2025) Gender and preferences for performance feedback. Management Sci. 71(4):3497–3516.Link, Google Scholar
• Correll S, Simard C (2016) Vague feedback is holding women back. Harvard Bus. Rev. 94(1):2–5.Google Scholar
• Croson R, Gneezy U (2009) Gender differences in preferences. J. Econom. Literature 47(2):448–474.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Danz D, Vesterlund L, Wilson AJ (2022) Belief elicitation and behavioral incentive compatibility. Amer. Econom. Rev. 112(9):2851–2883.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Deversi M, Ispano A, Schwardmann P (2021) Spin doctors: An experiment on vague disclosure. Eur. Econom. Rev. 139:103872.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ding T, Schotter A (2019) Learning and mechanism design: An experimental test of school matching mechanisms with intergenerational advice. Econom. J. 129(623):2779–2804.Google Scholar
• Drobner C, Goerg SJ (2024) Motivated belief updating and rationalization of information. Management Sci. 70(7):4583–4592.Link, Google Scholar
• Drouvelis M, Paiardini P (2021) Feedback quality and performance in organisations. Leadership Quart. 101534.Google Scholar
• Dugar S, Mitra A, Shahriar Q (2019) Deception: The role of uncertain consequences. Eur. Econom. Rev. 114:1–18.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Eriksson T, Poulsen A, Villeval M-C (2009) Feedback and incentives: Experimental evidence. Labour Econom. 16(6):679–688.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Erkal N, Gangadharan L, Koh BH (2020) Replication: Belief elicitation with quadratic and binarized scoring rules. J. Econom. Psych. 81:102315.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Erkal N, Gangadharan L, Koh BH (2023) Do women receive less blame than men? Attribution of outcomes in a prosocial setting. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 210:441–452.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Erkal N, Koh BH, Xu L (2024) Gender and demand for social comparison information. Preprint, submitted December 19, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4994224.Google Scholar
• Ertac S, Gümren M, Koçkesen L (2019) Strategic feedback in teams: Theory and experimental evidence. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 162:1–23.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ertac S, Koçkesen L, Ozdemir D (2016) The role of verifiability and privacy in the strategic provision of performance feedback: Theory and experimental evidence. Games Econom. Behav. 100:24–45.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Exley CL, Nielsen K (2024) The gender gap in confidence: Expected but not accounted for. Amer. Econom. Rev. 114(3):851–885.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Fu J, Zhong S (2025) Visceral influences and gender difference in competitiveness. J. Econom. Psych. 107:102788.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Gallen Y, Wasserman M (2021) Informed choices: Gender gaps in career advice. Becker Friedman Institute Working Paper No. 2021-23.Google Scholar
• Gibbs MJ (1991) An economic approach to process in pay and performance appraisals. Working paper, Harvard Business School, Boston.Google Scholar
• Gill D, Prowse V (2014) Gender differences and dynamics in competition: The role of luck. Quant. Econom. 5(2):351–376.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Gill D, Kissová Z, Lee J, Prowse V (2019) First-place loving and last-place loathing: How rank in the distribution of performance affects effort provision. Management Sci. 65(2):494–507.Link, Google Scholar
• Glick P, Fiske ST (2001) An ambivalent alliance: Hostile and benevolent sexism as complementary justifications for gender inequality. Amer. Psychologist 56(2):109–118. Crossref, Google Scholar
• Gneezy U, Potters J (1997) An experiment on risk taking and evaluation periods. Quart. J. Econom. 112(2):631–645.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Gneezy U, Gravert C, Saccardo S, Tausch F (2017) A must lie situation: Avoiding giving negative feedback. Games Econom. Behav. 102:445–454.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Greenwald AG, McGhee DE, Schwartz JL (1998) Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 74(6):1464–1480.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Greve HR (2003) Organizational Learning from Performance Feedback: A Behavioral Perspective on Innovation and Change (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK).Crossref, Google Scholar
• Gürtler O, Harbring C (2010) Feedback in tournaments under commitment problems: Experimental evidence. J. Econom. Management Strategy 19(3):771–810.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hannan RL, Krishnan R, Newman AH (2008) The effects of disseminating relative performance feedback in tournament and individual performance compensation plans. Accounting Rev. 83(4):893–913.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hattie J, Timperley H (2007) The power of feedback. Rev. Ed. Res. 77(1):81–112.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ho T-H, Yeung C (2014) Giving feedback to clients. Management Sci. 60(8):1926–1944.Link, Google Scholar
• Hossain T, Okui R (2013) The binarized scoring rule. Rev. Econom. Stud. 80(3):984–1001.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Huang L, Murad Z (2020) Feedback spillover effect on competitiveness across unrelated tasks. Behav. Res. Accounting 32(1):69–85.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Jampol L, Zayas V (2021) Gendered white lies: Women are given inflated performance feedback compared with men. Personality Soc. Psych. Bull. 47(1):57–69.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Jin GZ, Luca M, Martin D (2021) Is no news (perceived as) bad news? An experimental investigation of information disclosure. Amer. Econom. J. Microeconom. 13(2):141–173.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Kessel D, Mollerstrom J, van Veldhuizen R (2021) Can simple advice eliminate the gender gap in willingness to compete? Eur. Econom. Rev. 138:103777.Crossref, Google Scholar
• London M (2014) The Power of Feedback: Giving, Seeking, and Using Feedback for Performance Improvement (Routledge, New York).Google Scholar
• Lovász A, Cukrowska-Torzewska E, Rigó M, Szabó-Morvai Á (2022) Gender differences in the effect of subjective feedback in an online game. J. Behav. Experiment. Econom. 98:101854.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Markowsky E, Beblo M (2022) When do we observe a gender gap in competition entry? A meta-analysis of the experimental literature. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 198:139–163.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Niederle M, Vesterlund L (2007) Do women shy away from competition? Do men compete too much? Quart. J. Econom. 122(3):1067–1101.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Niederle M, Vesterlund L (2011) Gender and competition. Ann. Rev. Econom. 3(1):601–630.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Prendergast C, Topel R (1993) Discretion and bias in performance evaluation. Eur. Econom. Rev. 37(2–3):355–365.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Prue DM, Fairbank JA (1981) Performance feedback in organizational behavior management: A review. J. Organ. Behav. Management 3(1):1–16.Google Scholar
• Reuben E, Rey-Biel P, Sapienza P, Zingales L (2012) The emergence of male leadership in competitive environments. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 83(1):111–117.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Schotter A (2003) Decision making with naive advice. Amer. Econom. Rev. 93(2):196–201.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Schotter A, Sopher B (2007) Advice and behavior in intergenerational ultimatum games: An experimental approach. Games Econom. Behav. 58(2):365–393.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Sen AK (1977) Rational fools: A critique of the behavioral foundations of economic theory. Philos. Public Affairs 6(4):317–344. Google Scholar
• Serra-Garcia M, Van Damme E, Potters J (2011) Hiding an inconvenient truth: Lies and vagueness. Games Econom. Behav. 73(1):244–261.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Sharma K, Castagnetti A (2023) Demand for information by gender: An experimental study. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 207:172–202.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Silva-Goncalves J, van Veldhuizen R (2020) Subjective judgment and gender bias in advice: Evidence from the laboratory. Lund University Working paper No. 2020:27, Department of Economics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.Google Scholar
• Solomon L (2016) Two-thirds of managers are uncomfortable communicating with employees. Harvard Bus. Rev. (March 9), https://hbr.org/2016/03/two-thirds-of-managers-are-uncomfortable-communicating-with-employees.Google Scholar
• Sun K-K, Papadokonstantaki S (2023) Lying aversion and vague communication: An experimental study. Eur. Econom. Rev. 160:104611.Crossref, Google Scholar
• van Veldhuizen R (2022) Gender differences in tournament choices: Risk preferences, overconfidence, or competitiveness? J. Eur. Econom. Assoc. 20(4):1595–1618.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Viki GT, Abrams D, Hutchison P (2003) The “true” romantic: Benevolent sexism and paternalistic chivalry. Sex Roles 49:533–537.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Villeval M-C (2020) Performance feedback and peer effects. Zimmermann KF, ed. Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics (Springer International Publishing, Cham, Switzerland), 1–38.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Villeval M-C (2023) Performance feedback: Cognitive and motivational effects. Eriksson T, ed. Elgar Encyclopedia of Labour Studies (Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK), 161–164.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Villeval M-C (2025) Honesty and lie aversion. Chuah SH, Hoffmann R, Neelim A, eds. Elgar Encyclopedia of Behavioural and Experimental Economics (Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK), 237–238.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Weeks JW, Heimberg RG, Rodebaugh TL (2008) The fear of positive evaluation scale: Assessing a proposed cognitive component of social anxiety. J. Anxiety Disorders 22(1):44–55.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Wozniak D, Harbaugh WT, Mayr U (2014) The menstrual cycle and performance feedback alter gender differences in competitive choices. J. Labor Econom. 32(1):161–198.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Zenger J, Folkman J (2017) Why do so many managers avoid giving praise? Harvard Bus. Rev. (May 2), https://hbr.org/2017/05/why-do-so-many-managers-avoid-giving-praise?utm_source=chatgpt.com.Google Scholar