Manning, Alan 
ORCID: 0000-0002-7884-3580 and Saidi, Farzad
(2010)
Understanding the gender pay gap: what's competition got to do with it?
Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 63 (4).
pp. 681-698.
ISSN 0019-7939
Abstract
A number of researchers have argued that men and women have different attitudes toward and behavioral responses to competition; that is, women are more likely to opt out of jobs in which performance pay is the norm and to under-perform in some competitive situations. Laboratory experiments suggest that these gender differences are rather large. To check these hypotheses and findings against differences in the field, the authors use performance pay as an indicator of competition in the workplace and compare the gender gap not only in incidence of performance pay but also in earnings and work effort under these contracts. They find that although women are less likely than men to work under performance pay contracts, the gender gap is small. Furthermore, the effect of performance pay on earnings is modest and does not differ markedly by gender. Consequently, the authors argue, the ability of these competition hypotheses to explain the gender pay gap seems very limited.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ilrreview/ |
| Additional Information: | © 2010 Cornell University |
| Divisions: | Economics Centre for Economic Performance |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor |
| JEL classification: | J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J31 - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials by Skill, Training, Occupation, etc. |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Apr 2011 14:09 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Oct 2024 03:37 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/35456 |
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