Tournament as a motivational strategy: Extension to dynamic situations with uncertain duration

The static tournament model is not able to account for many real-life tournaments that are often dynamic and uncertain in nature. Several dynamic tournament models were developed and tested in two experiments based on the research paradigm of Bull et al. (J. Polit, Econ, 95 (1987) 1). Results show that models based on a hare-tortoise heuristic, which assumes more effort exertion when trailing, and less effort exertion when leading, were more promising than were traditional models in describing complex competitive behaviors induced by dynamic tournaments. Dynamic tournaments were found to be more effective in inducing effort than were static tournaments. Theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.