Summary of the Research by David Ong and Zhuoqiong Chen
Introduction
The research study is based on the competitiveness of men as stipulated in available literature. Ong & Chen performs a study that seeks to underline gender competitiveness. The desire to win was tested in both males and females where all-pay auction test was used as a compelling facet for the realized results. Winning relied on motivation to pay, an aspect that was employed in order to challenge results from previous studies. In fact, results from previous studies, which demonstrated higher competitiveness in male, acted as the rationale behind the research study carried out by Ong & Chen. The researchers were able to contradict literature and previous premises. This was made possible through inclusion of undergraduate institutions where all classes, both top-tier and mid-tier, were recruited for the study (Ong & Chen, 1). Contrary to previous studies, Ong & Chen research indicated that females hold a higher aspiration to win but on the other hand, women are less threat averse while compared to their male counterparts. The overall results from the research study suggested that women are more motivated to win as compared to men due to their competitive mind-set.
As indicated earlier, the research study is founded on the ambiguity of results from past studies. According to literature, women hold less executive positions in major firms in the United States whereby only a 2.5% percent of women hold top executive positions. Moreover, previous studies carried to show representation of women in partnership firms indicated that, in 2005, only 17% of women were in partnership business. This is a clear indication that gender disparities exists and women are considered less competitive in organizations, specifically in managerial positions. However, it has been noted that women are overconfident and exhibit a risk attitude, which consequently affects their competitiveness (Ong & Chen, 3). This on the converse does not necessarily mean that women are less competitive.
Additionally, literature has it that men are more overconfident that women but only when taking actual tests. Interestingly, with monetary incentives, the overconfidence gap between the two genders reduces given that money act as a motivator, a characteristic that makes everyone despite gender disparity strive to achieve his/her goals. Women are more threat averse in life choices such as sex as compared to men. In this regard, Ong & Chen tried to patch up findings from previous studies with the premise that an aspiration to be triumphant compels males into competition in the absence of overconfidence or disparity in risk stance.
Particularly, an aspiration to win triggers a person’s potential to strive even harder. This aspect was tested through recruitment of 582 participants from UT and 416 participants from SZ classes (Ong & Chen, 9). Although the study sample represented the two genders, the researchers did not employ a perfect gender balance. The results from the study indicated women in SZ bid much higher than males (7.4CNY) while women in UT bid much lower against men (3.7CNY) compared to men who bid higher against females(5.2) (Ong & Chen, 10). From the results, it is evident that men from UT are not as competitive as women are. This is because women in UT bid much higher against fellow women while men bid higher against women. Nevertheless, the bidding behavior of SZ students and UT women is a clear indication that women are less considered dissimilar in major graduate learning institutions.
From the realized results, Ong & Chen asserts that there is a need to separate aptitude in relation to competitive attitude measures (Ong & Chen, 11). Notably, the researchers ascertained that females are more spirited and aggressive than men in the sense that they hold a desire to be victorious and less danger averse. However, their potential, buoyancy among other factors in laboratory competition does not offer them ultimate expression. The measure of ability in both genders actually affects their competitive stance. The authors offer an example where performance of women on multiple-choice tests was prompted by guesswork other than ability. Noticeably, women are prompted by actions (Ong & Chen, 12). This is clearly evidenced by their competitiveness during exam preparation and less competitiveness during exam studies. Moreover, the researchers affirm that females perform better in non-IQ tests. This is in the view of the fact that women are triggered to act through actions, that is, they act when a need for an action arises. This is the reason behind the overbidding trend of women. It must be noted that the desire or the motivation to win, triggers women to act and perform their duties resiliently and diligently as opposed to men. This aspect therefore makes them highly competitive but less danger averse.
Ong & Chen in their quest to ascertain the competitiveness of both Chinese men and women established an idea of aspiration to win. The concept was meant to measure the competitiveness of the genders upon introduction of motivating factors, which included monetary incentives (Ong & Chen, 17). From the study, the researchers were able to create a difference between ability and competitive attitude. However, Ong & Chen appears to agree with the available literature concerning gender disparities. They acknowledge that women are more threat averse but in mid-tier undergraduate learning institution. Contrary, to previous studies, Chen & Ong established that females hold a great wish to win. From this study, the authors confirmed the perception that females are actually more spirited with both higher aspiration to triumph and low threat aversion in top-tier graduate learning institution.
Conclusion
While the research yielded reasonable results, the results could have been more viable and reliable if the researchers had employed a perfect gender balance. In this regard, gender balance would have greatly enhanced the results besides use of diverse bids. Particularly, varying bids would have helped in offering a clear explanation of importunate overbidding trend, which consequently makes females to be more competitive than men are. Moreover, in order to ensure credible and valid results, the researchers could have engaged a self-selection, an aspect that could have helped in interpretation of the disparities between aspiration to win and risk aversion.
Work Cited
David Ong & Zhuoqiong Chen. Tiger women of Chinese universities: An all-play auction experiment in gender signaling of desire to win. China: Peking University, 2011
