Urszula Markowska-Przybyła,

Wrocław University of Economics,

Wrocław, Poland,

E-mail: urszula.markowska-przybyla@ue.wroc.pl

GENDER AS A FACTOR DETERMINING DECLARATIONS TO COOPERATE AND COOPERATIVE BEHAVIOUR AMONG POLISH STUDENTS

David Mark Ramsey,

Wrocław University of Technology,

Wrocław, Poland,

E-mail: david.ramsey@pwr.wroc.pl

Abstract. This article considers the relation between gender and cooperation, measured on the basis of the “Public Goods” game and a questionnaire. Previous studies have not been able to give a clear indication of whether males or females pay more into a common pool, i.e. does one sex show a greater tendency to cooperate? This research presents new results in this field, since it was carried in Poland, where no such large-scale studies have been previously carried out. The study involving 1540 Polish students was carried out in 2014. Three experimental games were used, including the standard one-shot “Public Goods” game.

The results of the study did not find any significant differences in the mean levels of cooperative behaviour based on behaviour in the “Public Goods” game between males and females, although there were some differences between the distributions. There is no clear association between behaviour in this game and home region or the size of a student’s home town. On the other hand, there were some clear differences between males’ and females’ declarations regarding aspects of cooperation. In addition, females demonstrated greater variation in their attitudes according to the region and the size of a home town.

Received: September, 2017

1st Revision: December, 2017

Accepted: January, 2018

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2018/11-1/14

JEL Classification: C70, C71, D91, E22

Keywords: cooperation; „Public Goods” game; game theory; intention-behaviour gap; Poland