Interim performance feedback and quitting in tournaments: evidence from the civil service exam in China

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impact of interim performance feedback on candidates’ subsequent decisions on whether to quit during the tournament-like civil service exam in China, consisting of two stages: the written exam and the interview. We empirically find that, following the disclosure of written exam scores, candidates’ own scores significantly decrease their probability of quitting the later interview, whereas the scores of their rivals for the same government position significantly increase their probability of quitting. This indicates that candidates compare their own scores to those of their rivals to assess their chances and strategically decide whether to quit midway. However, this impact is only significant for laggards, requiring further explanation in future studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Performance feedback
• tournament
• civil service exam
• quitting

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• J45
• D83
• D91

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ More specifically, the context of the tournament or competition plays a significant role. Different settings, such as sports, laboratory experiments, or real-world examinations like the civil service exam, may introduce varying degrees of pressure, competition, and incentive structures, influencing individuals’ strategic behaviours differently. Additionally, the identification strategies employed in previous studies might differ in their ability to isolate the causal effect of performance feedback on subsequent decisions, including the decision to quit. For instance, some studies might rely on observational data, while others utilize experimental designs or instrumental variables to establish causality. Moreover, individual and contextual factors, such as personality traits, social dynamics, and institutional norms, could also influence the relationship between performance feedback and quitting decisions. All these differences might lead to the lack of consensus.

² The website address is http://gwy.zjks.gov.cn/zjgwy/website/init.htm.

³ If candidates submit a request to the examination department to quit the interview in advance, their names will be absent from the publicized interview results. If candidates do not submit this request but fail to attend the interview, they will be listed in the publicized interview results but receive zero scores. Therefore, both scenarios indicate that candidates quit the interview.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [72203056].