Competition penalty: Observers overestimate competitors’ sabotage behaviors

Observers often anticipate that competitors will sabotage their opponents’ performance to win. This pessimistic anticipation is potentially detrimental to competitors. Despite the importance of observers’ anticipation, few studies have examined whether the predictions made by observers are accurate. The current study reveals that observers overestimate competitors’ sabotage behaviors, as operationalized in various behavioral indicators. This overestimation arises because observers focus more on resource acquisition (vs. positive competence perceptions) associated with winning the competition than do competitors. Furthermore, prompting observers to consider the positive competence perceptions associated with winning a competition mitigates this misprediction. Our research contributes to the literature on competition and misprediction and has important practical implications for competitors, observers, and governments.