Crowdsourcing & Open Innovation

Philip Brookins, John P. Lightle, and Dmitry Ryvkin. 2018. “Sorting and communication in weak-link group contests.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 152, Pp. 64-80. Publisher's VersionAbstract
We experimentally study the effects of sorting and communication in contests between groups of heterogeneous players whose within-group efforts are perfect complements. Contrary to the common wisdom that competitive balance bolsters performance in contests, in this setting theory predicts that aggregate output increases in the variation in abilities between groups, i.e., it is maximized by the most unbalanced sorting of players. However, the data does not support this prediction. In the absence of communication, we find no effect of sorting on aggregate output, while in the presence of within-group communication aggregate output is 33% higher under the balanced sorting as compared to the unbalanced sorting. This reversal of the prediction is in line with the competitive balance heuristic. The results have implications for the design of optimal groups in organizations using relative performance pay.

ISS-FIT App

Sponsored by NASA, the goal of this  2013 series of challenges was to develop an iPad application for astronauts to use on the International Space Station (ISS) to track food intake. Astronauts on ISS have busy daily schedules and needed a simple way to record what they eat and drink in... Read more about ISS-FIT App

Social Comparison and Contests

In this project, we study the effect of social comparison on inequality in contest environment. We hypothesize that the effects of social comparison on effort will differ for top-performers and bottom-performers in a way that inequality increases, where we consider inequality both in terms of the dispersion of outcomes... Read more about Social Comparison and Contests

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