Performance curiosity

Carlos Alós-Ferrer; Jaume García-Segarra; Alexander Ritschel

doi:10.1016/j.joep.2017.08.002

Performance curiosity

Carlos Alós-Ferrer, Jaume García-Segarra, Alexander Ritschel

Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We show that performance curiosity – the desire to know one's own (relative) performance – can trump inequality aversion. In two experiments (combined N=450), participants chose between an equal allocation and a performance-based one after generating surplus in a real-effort task. In the experimental treatment, choosing an equal allocation came at the cost of not knowing the own performance, which led to a substantial increase of performance-based choices in comparison with the control treatment. The effect seems especially pronounced for women, but the gender effect is due to a difference in expectations regarding performance. Interestingly, the manipulation equalized the proportion of equal allocation choices between males and females compensating for their difference in expectations.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1-17
Number of pages	17
Journal	Journal of Economic Psychology
Volume	64
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2017.08.002
State	Published - Feb 2018

Keywords

2360
3020
Egalitarian behavior
Expectations
Performance curiosity
Social preferences

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Sociology and Political Science
Applied Psychology
Economics and Econometrics

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10.1016/j.joep.2017.08.002

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title = "Performance curiosity",

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AU - García-Segarra, Jaume

AU - Ritschel, Alexander

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Performance curiosity

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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