Competition can kill creativity in women, a new study shows.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis found creativity and cooperation decreases when women in a workplace group compete with each other.
"Intergroup competition is a double-edged sword that ultimately provides an advantage to groups and units composed predominantly or exclusively of men, while hurting the creativity of groups composed of women," said lead researcher Markus Baer, an associate professor of organizational behavior at Olin Business School. "If teams work side by side, women tend to perform better and even outperform men - they're more creative."
Baer said men become more interdependent and collaborative when competition increases. He explained women's contribution dipped as the environment grew more competitive, saying this shortfall was most noticeable in teams comprised entirely of women.
According to the researchers, mangers should not always use competition to boost production and creativity because it can be counterproductive in some cases.
"Given that women represent a growing portion of the workforce, using competition as a means to enhance the creativity of groups, regardless of how they are composed, implies that the creative potential available to businesses is seldom fully realized," Baer explained.
According to Baer, women are not bad competitors; stereotypical gender roles seem to be carried to work places, which impact performance, he said.
The study, "Intergroup Competition as a Double-Edged Sword: How Sex Composition Regulates the Effects of Competition on Group Creativity," appears online in the journal Organization Science.
