Despite strides in gender equality, particularly in the workforce, women still earn, on average, just 83 percent of what men do, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They also aren’t as well represented in management. Women are more than half the population but hold a little more than one-third of such positions.

With this knowledge as a backdrop, Coren Apicella, an assistant professor of psychology in the School of Arts & Sciences, partnered with researchers from George Mason University and the German Institute for Economic Research to look at one factor they believed plays a role in this gap: gender differences in approaches to competition.

What did they find? “Women are just as focused as men on self-improvement and mastery,” Apicella says. “But they shy away from competing against others.”

The researchers will publish their work in the American Economic Association’s AER: Papers and Proceedings.

To draw this conclusion, Apicella and colleagues recruited around 1,200 participants—half of whom were female—to participate in a study online or in a laboratory. Every person completed three rounds of play.

For the first round, study subjects answered basic questions, earning $1 for each correct answer. In round two, Apicella and her colleagues randomly assigned participants to either try to beat their own scores from round one, or go up against an anonymous competitor, winning $2 for each accurate response and nothing for wrong answers. In round three, participants had a choice: return to round one guidelines—what’s called “piece-rate” performance pay—or continue with round two parameters, the “tournament.”

The researchers paid close attention to the final round decision. They saw notable differences in preferences between groups.

In the lab setting, when individuals competed against another participant, 58 percent of males chose competition in the final round compared to 38 percent of women, equating to a 20-point percentage gap; online, that gap was 12 percentage points. But in both study settings, when individuals tried to beat a personal score rather than another person, the disparity vanished.

“We found that gender differences when competing against others is largely driven by confidence and risk-taking. Men tend to overestimate their own ability, underestimate their opponent’s ability, and take more risks,” Apicella says. “When competing against yourself, these factors are less relevant, so the gender difference disappears.”

This contrast in willingness to compete could stem from many factors: sexism, discrimination, and distinctions in parental roles. Or, the researchers say, it could be biologically ingrained.

“I’ve also found this gender difference in my research with hunter-gatherers,” Apicella explains. “The Hadza [of northern Tanzania] remain relatively isolated. Like our ancestors, they’re living off the land, hunting and gathering and sleeping under the stars. And of course, they don’t use money. Yet, you still see the sex difference, even in a society that contrasts with ours in remarkable ways.”

Knowing that this disparity exists, regardless of its origins, could help businesses and organizations boost employee performance, if used correctly.

“Women still get paid less than men and are underrepresented in higher ranking jobs, and it may be because they are retreating from competing against others,” Apicella says.

Instead of pitting one person against another, she says employers could focus the outcomes on besting one’s own accomplishments.

“When they’re competing against their own past performance, it’s also boosting their current performance,” Apicella says. “It’s no different from the boost they’re getting from competing against another person.”