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Contribution Details

Type Working Paper
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Can Consumers See A Difference? An Experiment with High-Skilled Soccer Players
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Carlos Gomez Gonzalez
  • Helmut Max Dietl
  • David Berri
  • Cornel Nesseler
Language
  • English
Institution University of Zurich
Series Name UZH Business Working Paper Series
Number 391
ISSN 2296-0422
Number of Pages 34
Date 2021
Abstract Text Whether one looks at revenue, public and private investment, or media coverage; men's sports consistently do better than women's sports. Many people argue that these differences are driven by absolute differences in the quality of athletes in men's and women's sports. We begin by noting that absolute differences in athletic skill often do not drive demand in sports. We then move on to our primary research question: Can people truly see differences in men and women athletes? To answer this question, we use videos of professional women’s and men’s soccer. In some videos the gender of the athletes was clear to see. In other videos, though, the gender of the athletes was blurred. We find that participants only rate men’s soccer videos higher when the gender of the players is visible. These findings reveal a bias in the evaluation of men’s and women’s soccer relevant for many other fields. Our results demonstrate that factors other than performance, e.g., social beliefs and stereotypes, have an important influence on how individuals evaluate women in sports.
Other Identification Number merlin-id:21952
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