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The Impact of Gender Composition on Team Performance and Decision-Making: Evidence from the Field

Author

Listed:
  • Jose Apesteguia
  • Ghazala Azmat
  • Nagore Iriberri
Abstract
We investigate whether the gender composition of teams affect their economic performance. We study a large business game, played in groups of three, where each group takes the role of a general manager. There are two parallel competitions, one involving undergraduates and the other involving MBAs. Our analysis shows that teams formed by three women are significantly outperformed by any other gender combination, both at the undergraduate and MBA levels. Looking across the performance distribution, we find that for undergraduates, three women teams are outperformed throughout, but by as much as 10pp at the bottom and by only 1pp at the top. For MBAs, at the top, the best performing group is two men and one woman. The differences in performance are explained by differences in decision-making. We observe that three women teams are less aggressive in their pricing strategies, invest less in R&D, and invest more in social sustainability initiatives, than any other gender combination teams. Finally, we find support for the hypothesis that it is poor work dynamics among the three women teams that drives the results.

Suggested Citation

  • Jose Apesteguia & Ghazala Azmat & Nagore Iriberri, 2010. "The Impact of Gender Composition on Team Performance and Decision-Making: Evidence from the Field," Working Papers 485, Barcelona School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bge:wpaper:485
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; teams; performance; decision-making;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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