The fairness of long and short ABBA-sequences: A basketball free-throw field experiment

• Published in: Journal of behavioral and experimental economics 2020-12, Vol.89, p.101562, Article 101562
• Main Authors: Bühren, Christoph, Kadriu, Valon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ABBA-sequence; Athletes; Behavioral economics; Experiments; First-mover advantage; Locus of control; Professional basketball; Psychological pressure; Psychological traits; Records & achievements; Scores; Second-mover advantage; Sequential tournaments; Sports psychology
• ISSN: 2214-8043; 2214-8051
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2020.101562

•We conducted a basketball free-throw field experiment with the ABBA-sequence.•We find a second-mover advantage with four throws each and no first- or second-mover advantage with ten throws each.•We assessed psychological traits of our subjects.•Subjects with a higher locus of control had a lower chance of scoring. Sequential tournaments in the ABBA-format are supposed to be fair. In a basketball free-throw field experiment with a low scoring rate, we find a second-mover advantage in short ABBA-games with four attempts each and no first- or second-mover advantage with ten attempts each. Analyzing the shot success of single moves, we argue that player B perceives a psychological advantage in short sequential competitions with a low expected success rate. In our long ABBA-sequence, insignificant second-mover advantages on shot level balance each other out on game level. We control for psychological traits of our subjects: Locus of control has a negative effect on performance in our experiment.