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Paying the way: the ticket to gender equality in sports

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, August, 2004 by Michelle R. Hebl, Traci A. Giuliano, Eden B. King, Jennifer L. Knight, Jenessa R. Shapiro, Jeanine L. Skorinko, Anjali Wig

Although both Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments and the advent of professional women's sporting leagues have led to dramatic increases in opportunities for women in sports at high school, collegiate, and professional levels, significant discrepancies still exist between men's and women's sport. For example, inequity persists in the quality and quantity of media coverage, access, promotion, and institutional support. Moreover, no legislation provides direction to institutions regarding the price charged for public admittance to men's and women's athletic events. Thus, the price of attendance may be discrepant depending on the gender of the team. The tenets of equity theory suggest that discrepancies in financial indicators lead to differences in perceptions of value (e.g., Adams, 1965). In other words, if the price of attendance at men's and women's athletic events differs, so might the value associated with each team. To investigate this possibility, we examined extant norms in the price of tickets to athletic events, and then considered the potential ramifications of gender differences in pricing.

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Equity Theory and Stereotyping

Equity, a standard by which resources are distributed according to relative contributions, has been evaluated from a number of perspectives (e.g., Adams, 1963, 1965; Walster, Berscheid, & Walster, 1973, 1976; Walster & Walster, 1975) including sociology, economics, and psychology. For example, Adams (1965) argued that when inequity is perceived to exist, an individual experiences psychological stress, and is, therefore, motivated to correct the inequity in order to eliminate uncomfortable feelings. Thus, as opposed to seeking equity in and of itself, people seek equity simply to avoid, or at least to reduce, the dissonance that accompanies inequity. To address inequity, Adams (1965) argued that an individual may choose from a variety of strategies, including: (1) an alteration of one's own inputs and/or outcomes, (2) a modification of another's inputs and/or outcomes, (3) a cognitive distortion of the inputs or outcomes to oneself and/or others, and (4) a utilization of a different situation for comparison. Keeping their own self-interest in mind, individuals will choose that option that is perceived to be least costly in terms of self-esteem.

In the field of economics, however, internal forces, such as dissonance, are not typically considered. Instead, market forces and equilibrium dominate the discussion. When consumers are faced with products that are equivalent in function, but different in price, a choice between the two must be made. The price a consumer is willing to pay will depend upon the utility that is expected from consuming the product (Pindyck & Rubinfeld, 1998). Microeconomics theory assumes that the utility of the product increases with an increased consumption of goods, and that consumers simply wish to maximize their utility given their limited budget. Accordingly, an individual will only purchase a product with a higher price if it provides that individual with something that the lower priced alternative does not. If the lower priced alternative is deemed equal or better in utility, then the consumer will buy it over the higher priced alternative. As such, the marketer's job is to make consumers believe that the higher priced alternative is somehow better than the lower priced alternative. For example, consumers may be more inclined to buy a name brand laundry detergent (e.g., Tide[R], All[R]) over the generic brand because they believe that the increased price translates into increased cleaning power. From a broader perspective, stereotypes and heuristics associated with high prices also play a large role in the consumer's evaluation of the value of a product. When unsure of the quality of a product, high price becomes an indicator of quality, and consumers operate according to an "expensive = good" heuristic. Braun and Wicklund (1989) referred to this phenomenon as the "snob effect." This effect refutes traditional economic principles of the relationship between price and demand (i.e., as price decreases, there is an increase in sales), and instead replaces it with a relationship between price and value. That is, when the price of a product increases, there is also an increase in value, and consequently an increase in sales. According to this perspective, consumers have learned to take different prices at face value and to make attributions of higher value to higher priced items. To reduce the dissonance that accompanies the choice of one product over another, consumers must rationalize the difference in utility, and usually the higher-priced alternative is viewed as being better in some regard.

Equity and Sports

There are many examples of the application of equity theory in athletics from the perspective of athletes (e.g., Lord & Hohenfeld, 1979; Wann & Fortner, 1997). However, very few studies have addressed the perceived value of athletic teams from the perspective of the consumer. The principles of economics and consumer valuation strategies can be applied to the attitudes held by potential customers of athletic events. Though not yet addressed by psychological research, equity theory may apply to the price that sports fans are required to pay. Within the same game, ticket prices, which may vary as much as $20, reflect a difference in the seat location and the relative visibility from that location. Seats closer to the action are more expensive than those farther away; fans believe that closeness brings more excitement, and thus are willing to support the difference in price. However, the difference in price to see men's (relative to women's) teams play the same sport may not be so easily justified. If ticket offices charge lower fees for entry into women's games than for entry into men's games, they may be perpetuating differences in the perceived value associated with each team. Thus, the public's perceptions of men's and women's sports may depend in part on the price of tickets. Two critical questions emerge from the application of equity theory to gender issues in college sports. First, is there a gender disparity in the price of tickets? Second, do games that cost less have less perceived value?

Health Care Industry

Paying the way: the ticket to gender equality in sports

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, August, 2004 by Michelle R. Hebl, Traci A. Giuliano, Eden B. King, Jennifer L. Knight, Jenessa R. Shapiro, Jeanine L. Skorinko, Anjali Wig

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