The influence of a competition on noncompetitors
Abstract
Competitions are prevalent in social life, but it is typical in a competition that the competitors are far outnumbered by people who do not participate in it but are aware of it. In a series of experimental studies, we find that the mere awareness of a competition can affect a noncompetitor's performance in similar tasks. In our field experiment involving pay-what-you-want entrance at a German zoo, customers who were aware of a competition over entrance payments, but did not participate in it, paid more than customers who were unaware of it. Further experiments provide confirmatory evidence for this contagion effect, and suggest that it is due to noncompetitors becoming motivated to act more competitively upon being aware of the competition.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- March 2018
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1717301115
- Bibcode:
- 2018PNAS..115.2716K