Competition and the role of group identity

Arbeitspapier

The emergence of competition is a defining aspect of human nature and characterizes many important social environments. However, its relationship with how social groups are formed has received little attention. We design an experiment to analyze how individuals’ willingness to compete is affected by group identity. We find that individuals display substantially stronger competitiveness in within group (ingroup) matchings than in between group (outgroup) matchings or in a control setting where no group identity is induced. We also find that the effect of group identity is stronger for subjects who participated more actively in the team-building task.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 7643

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Group Behavior
• Subject: competition ; social distance ; group identity ; laboratory experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Cornaglia, Francesca ; Drouvelis, Michalis ; Masella, Paolo
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/201869
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET