Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/309577 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 1561
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
Self-promotion plays a significant role in both the labor market and society; however, its prevalence and effects remain difficult to quantify. This paper leverages the unique setting of professional surfing to examine the causal impact of self-promotion-proxied by the act of "claiming" a wave-on performance outcomes. Utilizing data from over 5,500 waves in the World Surf League and employing an instrumental variables approach, we find that self-promotion provides substantial benefits, increasing wave scores by approximately 0.8 standard deviations, or 1.6 points out of a maximum score of 10. Notably, female surfers are significantly less likely than their male counterparts to engage in self-promotional behaviors, as reflected by a lower ferquency of claiming, yet they receive comparable benefits when they do claim. These findings offer valuable insights into the rewards of self-promotion in competitive, high-stakes environments and underscore the potential for women to improve outcomes by more frequently adopting such behaviors.
Subjects: 
Self-promotion
Performance evaluation
Professional surfing
Gender differences
Instrumental variables
JEL: 
J24
J16
Z22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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