Contest Experience Research Articles

Building more entrepreneurial organizations through external innovation contests

AbstractFirms are increasingly adopting innovation contests to obtain ideas for new products and services from external parties, but many firms may not be sufficiently entrepreneurial to benefit from those ideas. Using an inductive longitudinal case study of three financial service firms, we explore the value of external innovation contests for less entrepreneurial and stagnant firms. Our findings indicate that stagnant firms indeed struggle to benefit from ideas generated through external innovation contests. However, we also show that firms undergo a structural change process toward higher entrepreneurial orientation through such contests. In particular, they become aware of an organizational readiness gap and act on it by (i) developing entrepreneurial skills, (ii) collaborating with external partners, and (iii) adapting organizational design and governance. Based on our findings, we propose an original framework for a corporate entrepreneurial learning process triggered by the innovation contest experience.

Stduy on Recognition of Problems and Improvement Method in Beauty Contest: Targeting Judge and Organizing Committee Members

The study was conducted on judges and organizers of beauty contests in South Gyeongsang Province. According to a survey of 203 people, most were women in their 20s, who were highly educated (four-year college graduation or enrollment), and there were many people who were not married. There were many people who were active in the beauty field. According to the research results, caring for participants in the operation and service sectors of the competition was recognized as the biggest problem, and it was difficult to connect with various competition events in terms of education. In terms of cultural value, there was a perception that it did not meet the international level. The opinion that the focus should be on competition events and education as an improvement measure prevailed. In particular, there was a strong opinion that the promotion of competition regulations and screening regulations was necessary in advance. In addition, it was suggested that the development of competition events to improve participants' practical skills and the establishment of networks to attract foreign participants are important. Lastly, people with a lot of experience in beauty contests showed high awareness of the competition events and plans to improve education. The results of this study can be used as important information for the development of beauty contests in Korea.

Exploring Factors Influencing Student Performance and Educational Strategies in Logistics Management Contests: An ISM Study

Nowadays, the importance of logistics management has been increasingly realized in industry and society. However, current educational approaches in logistics management seem unable to effectively equip students with the necessary skills to cope with practical issues after graduation. Recently, contest-based education has attracted logistics management educators’ attention, but how it can be effectively utilized in this discipline is largely unclear. To fill this gap, this study followed a system approach and analyzed the factors influencing student performance in logistics management contests in China using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and Matrice d’ Impacts Croisés-Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC). The results suggest that the driving forces for improving student performance in contests are the instructors’ encouragement and their previous experience in instructing contests. Also, the contestants’ previous experience in academic contests, team leadership, and effectiveness of communication between instructors and contestants are critical influencing factors. Based on the results, the educational strategies for effective utilization of contest-based education in logistics management are discussed. This study contributes to the existing literature by using a system modeling approach to clarify the mechanisms of contest-based education adoption in logistics management as well as informing university teachers and higher education institutes about strategies to improve their education quality.

Age-dependent winner-loser effects in a mangrove rivulus fish, Kryptolebias marmoratus.

The outcomes of recent fights can provide individuals information about their relative fighting ability and affect their contest decisions (winner-loser effects). Most studies investigate the presence/absence of the effects in populations/species, but here we examine how they vary between individuals of a species in response to age-dependent growth rate. Many animals' fighting ability is highly dependent on body size, so rapid growth makes information from previous fights unreliable. Furthermore, fast-growing individuals are often at earlier developmental stages and are relatively smaller and weaker than most other individuals but are growing larger and stronger quickly. We therefore predicted winner-loser effects to be less detectable in individuals with high than low growth rates and to decay more quickly. Fast-growing individuals should also display stronger winner than loser effects, because a victory when small indicates a strength which will grow, whereas a loss might soon become irrelevant. We tested these predictions using naïve individuals of a mangrove killifish, Kryptolebias marmoratus, in different growth stages. Measures of contest intensity revealed winner/loser effects only for slow-growth individuals. Both fast- and slow-growth fish with a winning experience won more of the subsequent non-escalated contests than those with a losing experience; in fast-growth individuals this effect disappeared in 3days, but in slow-growth fish it did not. Fast-growth individuals also displayed winner effects but not loser effects. The fish therefore responded to their contest experiences in a way which reflected value of the information from these experiences to them, consistent with our predictions.

Preparing Interdisciplinary Problem Solvers: A Project-Based Course Series for the Mathematical/Interdisciplinary Contests in Modeling

In this paper, we present an overview of a series of 1-credit applied problem solving courses. The goal of these courses was to help students develop their oral and written communication skills, ability to work as a team, and general problem solving skills through preparation and participation in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM). In the first part of the course series, teams of students worked on past contest problems to simulate the contest experience over a 15-week semester. We provided feedback and guidance at each step of the modeling process, but students were ultimately responsible for all modeling choices. Students were required to write a 20-page report detailing their solutions (as in the contest) and to present their work orally. In the follow-on course, students participated in the MCM/ICM and shared their work in an oral presentation at a local conference or on campus. Here, we provide course details and share student feedback, positive outcomes (including a winning team!), and plans for future iterations of the course. We suggest that this type of experience provides an opportunity for students to engage with open-ended problems similar to those they may face in their careers.

Performance in video games affects self-perceived mate value and mate preferences.

Mate value is tied to appearance and age in women, and social status and wealth in men. Theory surrounding self-perceived mate value suggests that mate value shows relatively little situational plasticity. Here we challenge this concept by asking participants to compete in video games to test (a) whether self-perceived and actual performance affects subjective mate value, and (b) whether subjective mate value affects mate preferences. By randomly allocating participants to play either a violent or nonviolent game in three separate experiments, we show that both men and women who played a violent game had significantly lower self-perceived performance, and as a result, reported a lower self-perceived mate value. We also demonstrate that this effect led to different preferences for short-term mating partners, mainly among women. Our results strongly suggest that mate value in humans is situationally dynamic and responds to recent contest experiences, as it does in nonhumans. We discuss our results with reference to online multiplayer digital gaming experiences and how variation in self-perceived mate value affects mating market dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Public Significance Statement—People’s perceptions of their own quality as romantic partners (i.e., their mate value) often depends on physical attractiveness for women or social status for men. Here we show that self-perceived mate value is not a fixed trait but varies according to subjective performance in a competitive video game. Compared with people who played nonviolent video games, the men and women that played a violent video game believed they performed more poorly and rated themselves as having a relatively lower mate value. These experiments provide evidence that people’s perception of their quality as romantic partners varies according to the social experiences they have and their performance in online contests. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Indefinitely repeated contests: An experimental study

We experimentally explore indefinitely repeated contests. Theory predicts more cooperation, in the form of lower expenditures, in indefinitely repeated contests with a longer expected time horizon. Our data support this prediction, although this result attenuates with contest experience. Theory also predicts more cooperation in indefinitely repeated contests compared to finitely repeated contests of the same expected length, and we find empirical support for this. Finally, theory predicts no difference in cooperation across indefinitely repeated winner-take-all and proportional-prize contests, yet we find evidence of less cooperation in the latter, though only in longer treatments with more contests played. Our paper extends the experimental literature on indefinitely repeated games to contests and, more generally, contributes to an infant empirical literature on behavior in indefinitely repeated games with “large” strategy spaces.

Indefinitely Repeated Contests: An Experimental Study

We experimentally explore indefinitely repeated contests. Theory predicts more cooperation, in the form of lower expenditures, in indefinitely repeated contests with a longer expected time horizon, and our data support this prediction, although this result attenuates with contest experience. Theory also predicts more cooperation in indefinitely repeated contests compared to finitely repeated contests of the same expected length, and we find empirical support for this. Finally, theory predicts no difference in cooperation across indefinitely repeated winner-take-all and proportional-prize contests, yet we find evidence of less cooperation in the latter, though only in longer treatments with more contests played. Our paper extends the experimental literature on indefinitely repeated games to contests and, more generally, contributes to an infant empirical literature on behavior in indefinitely repeated games with large strategy spaces.

Evaluating student attitudes and learning at remote collegiate soil judging events

AbstractAs with many aspects of teaching, the COVID‐19 pandemic forced soil judging teams to attempt new strategies towards achieving student learning outcomes. Soil judging Regions IV and V hosted remote regional contests in October 2020 in place of traditional, in‐person contests typically held each fall. We conducted pre‐ and post‐contest surveys to assess student learning outcomes, attitudes, and reflections on the remote contest experience compared to past, in‐person contest experiences. We received 108 total responses from students who participated in the Region IV and Region V remote soil judging contests (>80% response rate). In self‐reported learning outcomes, there were no significant gains post‐contest and there were minimal differences between students in Regions IV and V. Female students, students with more soil judging experience, and students who had taken more soil science courses agreed more strongly that soil science is important, that they planned to pursue careers in soil science, and that they gained important skills from soil judging. Finally, students who previously participated in contests reported that they gained more knowledge and enjoyed in‐person contests more than the remote contests held in Fall 2020. Thus, while it is possible to replicate some aspects of the soil judging experience in a remote contest, other aspects that are critical to student engagement are lost when teams are unable to gather at the contest location and examine soils in the field.

Winner\u2013loser effects overrule aggressiveness during the early stages of contests between pigs

Contest behaviour, and in particular the propensity to attack an unfamiliar conspecific, is influenced by an individual’s aggressiveness, as well as by experience of winning and losing (so called ‘winner–loser effects’). Individuals vary in aggressiveness and susceptibility to winner–loser effects but the relationship between these drivers of contest behaviour has been poorly investigated. Here we hypothesise that the winner–loser effect on initiation of agonistic behaviour (display, non-damaging aggression, biting and mutual fighting) is influenced by aggressiveness. Pigs (n = 255) were assayed for aggressiveness (tendency to attack in resident−intruder tests) and then experienced two dyadic contests (age 10 and 13 weeks). Agonistic behaviour, up to reciprocal fighting, in contest 2 was compared between individuals of different aggressiveness in the RI test and experiences of victory or defeat in contest 1. Winner–loser effects were more influential than aggressiveness in determining initiation of agonistic behaviour. After accruing more skin lesions in contest 1, individuals were less likely to engage in escalated aggression in contest 2. The interaction between aggressiveness and winner–loser experience did not influence contest behaviour. The results suggest that aggressiveness does not compromise learning from recent contest experience and that reducing aggressiveness is unlikely to affect how animals experience winning and losing.

The dynamics of innovation contest experience: An integrated framework from the customer’s perspective

Getting customers to actively participate in company-sponsored innovation contests is increasingly crucial. While much of the extant research on innovation contests is understandably focused on company benefits, relatively less is known about the innovation contest experience (ICE) from a customer perspective. This research extends the innovation contest literature by developing an integrated framework for evaluating contest experiences. Based on a mixed method approach, this study investigates the role of an understudied variable, namely perceived challenge (PC) of the innovation task, and its influence on ICE. Results indicate that PC has a direct positive (quadratic) influence on ICE, that PC negatively moderates the effect of extrinsic motivation on ICE as well as the effect of intrinsic motivation on ICE. This study also reveals an interaction effect between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, showing a moderating effect of extrinsic motivation on the link between intrinsic motivation and ICE. Both short-term and long-term outcomes of ICE are modeled and tested. Results indicate that a positive ICE leads to a greater customer willingness to participate in subsequent contests and to an enhanced company reputation for innovation.

Leveraging the Mathematical Contest in Modeling to Enhance the Undergraduate STEM Experience

This article proposes that in addition to training teams of students to succeed in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, the contest and the preparation for competition can be successfully used as a framework to teach an auxiliary skill set to undergraduate STEM majors through workshop-style modules. The skills emphasized are collaboration across disciplines to creatively approach a problem, scientific writing, and the visual display of quantitative information. These skills are highly valued in industry and graduate study, yet are not always explicitly taught in a traditional undergraduate curriculum. The contest experience gives students a realistic appreciation for collaborative science work. Moreover, the active learning aspect of the preparation is broadly linked with student success in STEM, particularly for traditionally underrepresented STEM students.

Winner and loser effects in lobster cockroach contests for social dominance

In the context of animal aggression, the winner/loser effect is a cross-taxa phenomenon. In the present study, the effect of social contest experience on winning and losing subsequent encounters was investigated in the furious male lobster cockroach, Nauphoeta cinerea. Dominant and subordinate individuals were generated as the result of an encounter between two socially naïve males (SNMs); the winner and loser were designated as 1st encounter dominants and 1st encounter subordinates, respectively. With these dominants and subordinates, three experiments were conducted: (I) the original pair met in a re-encounter, (II) the 1st encounter dominants and subordinates were paired with an inexperienced SNM, (III) the 1st encounter dominants and subordinates were paired with an experienced individual of the same rank. Each experiment was conducted at 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks and 5 weeks after the 1st encounter fight. Juvenile hormone (JH) III titer was monitored in all individuals before and after each subsequent encounter. Our results showed that, in the original pairing and in the pairing with SNMs, the probability that a 1st encounter dominant (or subordinate) would win (or lose) the subsequent encounter fit well with the 95% confidence interval of the theoretical criteria proposed by Begin et al. (1969), indicating the existence of the winning/losing effect. However, this effect was inconsistent along the five-week observation period. For all 1st encounter dominants, at each week after the 1st encounter, the before subsequent encounter JH III titers distribution was significantly different from that on the 1st encounter day; the distributions of before subsequent encounter JH III titers could be further clustered into two groups, the higher JH III group and the lower JH III group, which were significantly correlated with subsequent winning and losing, respectively. For the 1st encounter subordinates, the distributions of before subsequent encounter JH III titers were not significantly different from that of SNMs, but the titer distributions were significantly shifted to a higher level compared to the 1st encounter day. Compared with before subsequent encounter, the after subsequent encounter hemolymph JH III level was significantly increased in winners and significantly decreased in losers. From these data, we propose that instability of the winner and loser effects may occur due to physiological costs and recovery; this instability may partly explain why the social hierarchy is unstable in this cockroach species.

Upstream Versus Downstream Experience on Crowdsourcing Platforms with Interdependent Problem Domains: An Empirical Investigation

Innovation contest platforms are often organized around specific fields of interest and involve contests that span a variety of interdependent problem domains. While specialization in contests within a problem domain can improve a contestant’s performance in a future contest in the same domain, prior research on individual learning also suggests that a contestant can benefit from her related experience—i.e., experience in contests whose problem domains share an interdependency with the focal problem domain. It is, however, unclear whether the benefits of related experience arise symmetrically from upstream related problem domains (i.e., upstream experience) and downstream related problem domains (i.e., downstream experience) or differ among them. Given that an innovation contest platform serves to provide an effective match between contest problem requirements and contestants’ skills, it is important to understand how a contestant’s prior experience on such a platform contributes to her problem-solving performance. To address the research question, we collect detailed archival data from TopCoder, a leading platform for software development contests, from its launch in 2001 to September 2013. Our dataset comprises detailed participation history of 821 contestants in 3,274 contests across eight interdependent problem domains involving 8,985 observations. We find that while a contestant’s related experience on the innovation contest platform has a stronger positive association with her focal contest performance compared to unrelated experience on the platform, the benefits of related experience arise only from downstream experience. No significant performance benefits of upstream experience are observed. We also find that the performance benefits of downstream experience are more salient when the contest duration is shorter. Contrary to the notion of “hyper-specialization” that has been emphasized in previous research, our findings highlight the importance of targeted diversification of experience for participants on innovation platforms. They also shed light on the effective design of innovation contest platforms and resource allocation decisions in complex new product development projects involving interdependent problem domains.

Contest experience does not increase survivorship in honey bee queen duels

Animals engage in intraspecific conflict to increase their access to resources as well as improve their rank within the group. Prior experience can contribute to the outcome of conspecific contests and agonistic interactions. Winning a previous encounter can raise an individual’s probability of winning future contests, a phenomenon known as the winner effect. Likewise, a prior loss can reduce the probability of future wins, known as the loser effect. Theoretical and empirical research suggests that a winner effect can only exist in the presence of a loser effect. However, recent evidence suggests that this is not always the case. This finding prompted the present study, which explores whether there is a winner effect in virgin honey bee queens (Apis mellifera).Virgin queens compete with each other in fatal contests; losers do not survive, so there is no possibility of a loser effect, but sometimes virgin queens compete with more than one rival, so a winner effect is a possibility. To test for winner effects, we staged duels between pairs of age-matched virgin queens in the laboratory. The winner of each contest was then paired with another age-matched queen with no prior dueling experience. Winning a duel had a significant impact on the outcome of the second duel, but it reduced, rather than increased the probability of winning the second duel.

Contest competition and men's facial hair: beards may not provide advantages in combat

Abstract In contemporary human societies, where direct male-male competition is reduced compared to ancestral societies, sporting competitions remain an avenue for status acquisition via intra-sexual competition. Beards are the most visually salient and sexually dimorphic of men's secondary sexual traits and play a strong role in communicating masculinity, dominance and aggressiveness intra-sexually. Hypotheses have been advanced that beards provide advantages in intra-sexual combat, as protective organs and honest signals of fighting ability. Here we provide the first test of these hypotheses using data from professional mixed martial arts fighters competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. We explored whether secondary sexual traits (height, weight, beardedness), fighting stance (southpaw, orthodox), arm reach and past contest experiences impact on contest outcomes. If beards function as protective organs, bearded fighters should succumb to fewer knock-outs, and hence protection to injuries to the jaw, fewer abrasions and lacerations to the face and brain damage than clean-shaven fighters. Alternatively, if beards signal fighting ability then bearded fighters should win more fights. We found no evidence that beardedness was associated with fewer losses by knock-out or greater fighter ability. While fighters with longer reaches won more fights, neither stance nor past experience influenced fight outcomes. We suggest that beards represent dishonest signals of formidability that may serve to curtail the escalation of intra-sexual conflict through intimidation rather than providing advantages in direct combat.

Beyond Related Experience: Upstream vs. Downstream Experience in Innovation Contest Platforms with Interdependent Problem Domains

Problem definition: Innovation contest platforms are often organized around specific fields and host contests that span a variety of interdependent problem domains. Whereas contestants may benefit from related experience in contests whose problem domains share an interdependency with the focal problem domain, it is unclear whether the benefits of related experience arise symmetrically from upstream experience (i.e., experience in problem domains that provide input information to the focal problem domain) and downstream experience (i.e., experience in problem domains that use output information from the focal problem domain) or differ among them. Academic/practical relevance: Given that innovation contest platforms serve to effectively match contest problem requirements with contestants’ skills, it is important to understand how a contestant’s prior experience on a platform contributes to her problem-solving performance. Our research provides a more granular examination of the benefits of related experience than what has been examined in prior studies on individual learning or innovation contests. Methodology: We collected detailed archival data from TopCoder, a leading innovation contest platform that hosts contests across multiple interdependent software development problem domains, from its launch in 2001 to September 2013. Our data set comprises detailed participation histories of 821 contestants in 3,274 contests across eight interdependent problem domains involving 8,985 observations. Results: Whereas a contestant’s related experience on the innovation contest platform is more positively associated with her focal contest performance compared with unrelated experience, the benefits of related experience arise only from downstream experience. That is, there are no significant performance benefits of upstream experience. Furthermore, the performance benefits of downstream experience are greater when the contest duration is shorter, highlighting its role in enabling more efficient search and problem solving in innovation contest platforms with interdependent problem domains. Managerial implications: Contrary to the notion of “hyperspecialization,” our findings suggest that contestants can reap benefits from diversifying their experience into downstream problem domains on innovation contest platforms. Furthermore, innovation contest platforms could facilitate such targeted diversification of contestant experience by developing more granular metrics of contestant experience across problem domains. Our findings also have implications for resource allocation and job rotation decisions in software development projects within firms.

Contest experience and body size affect different types of contest decisions.

This study examined the relative importance of contest experience and size differences to behavioral decisions over the course of contests. Using a mangrove rivulus fish, Kryptolebias marmoratus, we showed that although contest experience and size differences jointly determined contest outcomes, they affected contestants' interactions at different stages of contests. Contest experience affected behavioral decisions at earlier stages of contests, including the tendency and latency to launch attacks, the tendency to escalate contests into mutual attacks and the outcome of non-escalated contests. Once contests were escalated into mutual attacks, the degree of size difference affected the fish's persistence in escalation and chance of winning, but contest experience did not. These results support the hypothesis that contest experience modifies individuals' estimation of their fighting ability rather than their actual strength. Furthermore, (1) in contests between two naïve contestants, more than 60% of fish that were 2-3mm smaller than their opponent escalated the contest to physical fights, even though their larger opponents eventually won 92% of escalated fights and (2) fish with a losing experience were very likely to retreat in the face of an opponent 2-3mm smaller than them without escalating. The result that a 2-3mm size advantage could not offset the influence of a losing experience on the tendency to escalate suggests that, as well as depending on body size, the fish's physical strength is influenced by other factors which require further investigation.

Effects of Prior Contest Experience and Contest Outcome on Female Reproductive Decisions and Offspring Fitness.

Winning or losing a prior contest can influence the outcome of future contests, but it might also alter subsequent reproductive decisions. For example, losers may increase their investment in the current breeding attempt if losing a contest indicates limited prospects for future breeding. Using the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, we tested whether females adjust their prehatching and posthatching reproductive effort after winning or losing a contest with a same-sex conspecific. Burying beetles breed on carcasses of small vertebrates for which there is fierce intrasexual competition. We found no evidence that winning or losing a contest influenced reproductive investment decisions in this species. Instead, we show that a female's prior contest experience (regardless of its outcome) influenced the amount of posthatching care provided, with downstream consequences for the female's reproductive output; both winners and losers spent more time provisioning food to their offspring and produced larger broods than females with no contest experience. We discuss the wider implications of our findings and present a conceptual model linking contest-mediated adjustments in parental investment to population-level processes. We propose that the frequency of intraspecific contests could both influence and be influenced by population dynamics in species where contest experience influences the size and/or number of offspring produced.

Influence of prior contest experience and level of escalation on contest outcome

An individual’s contest history can have a significant effect on their probability of winning a future contest. These winner–loser effects are likely to be mediated by the level of escalation in a contest, although this is rarely considered in the contest literature. We staged contests between size-matched male water skinks (Eulamprus quoyii) in a tournament design to investigate how prior contest success indirectly affected contest outcome through its effects on contest behavior. Moreover, we predicted that the effect of behavioral traits on contest outcome would depend on the level of escalation reached by contestants (non-escalated versus escalated contests). Contest initiation was the best predictor of contest outcome in both non-escalated and escalated contests, and whether an individual initiated a contest depended on prior contest experience. Prior winners were more likely to initiate subsequent aggressive encounters, and by doing so, initiators had an 88 % probability of winning compared to non-initiators in non-escalated contests. However, this effect was mediated by the level of escalation. Initiators in escalated contests had only a 59 % probability of winning compared to non-initiators. These results suggest that the strength of the effect of prior contest experience on behavioral traits varies across contest stages and is consistent with the hypothesis that prior contest experience alters an individual’s perception of its own fighting ability. Our study highlights the importance of considering the level of contest escalation when examining winner–loser effects in predicting contest outcome. Our results show that the effect of prior contest experience on contest initiation varies depending on the level of escalation reached by the contestants. We emphasize the importance of considering the level of contest escalation when examining the influence of prior contest experience on contest outcome.