Luck or skill: How women and men react to noisy feedback

Abstract

We design an experiment that sheds light on the asymmetry in how men and women interpret noisy feedback about relative standing and how this gender difference can affect tournament entry. Women attribute negative feedback to lack of ability, even when the feedback is due to bad luck. High-ability men who receive negative feedback correctly attribute it to luck. Men attribute negative feedback to lack of ability only when it confirms prior beliefs. We find consistent gender differences in tournament entry: noisy feedback eliminates the gender gap but primarily because low-performing men opt out of tournament. High-performing women who receive surprising negative feedback reduce tournament entry, generating a gender gap in performance and earnings relative to the setting without feedback.