Women like working in teams more than men do, and a principal reason,
says a study, is that men overestimate their own abilities.
Researchers had 174 people translate
numbers into letters, using a code that varied—a rote task. They
received 27 cents per item whether they worked solo or with another
person; 41% of women and 11% of men chose to work with a partner. The
best performers, in both sexes, reasonably opted not to work in teams.
But questionnaires revealed that more than half the gender gap stemmed
from men's belief that a partner would drag them down—something the
evidence didn't support. When people got an extra three cents per item
if they joined a team, the gender gap vanished, with about
three-quarters of participants pairing up.
"Do Women Prefer a Cooperative Work Environment?"
Peter Kuhn and Marie Claire Villeval, Institute for the Study of Labor
Discussion Paper (September)
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