Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/214406 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
CREMA Working Paper No. 2008-12
Publisher: 
Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA), Basel
Abstract: 
Do employees care about their relative (economic) position among co-workers in an organization? And if so, does it raise or lower their performance? Behavioral evidence on these important questions is rare. This paper takes a novel approach to answering these questions, working with sports data from two different disciplines, basketball and soccer. These sports tournaments take place in a controlled environment defined by the rules of the game. We find considerable support that positional concerns and envy reduce individual performance. In contrast, there does not seem to be any tolerance for income disparity, based on the hope that such differences signal that better times are under way. Positive behavioral consequences are observed for those who are experiencing better times.
Subjects: 
Relative income
positional concerns
envy
social comparison
relative derivation
performance
JEL: 
D00
D60
L83
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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