Social loafing

Revision as of 19:44, 19 February 2022

developed by Julian Schmidt

Abstract

The concept of social loafing describes the phenomenon which leads to the reduction of the individual contribution to a collective effort, compared to the effort an individual would make when working alone.^[1] Resulting from this effect a group can often times not fulfil its full potential, and the overall performance is reduced. While the phenomenon was initially described by French researcher Max Ringelmann in the early twentieth century, the term social loafing was introduced by Bibb Latané, et al., in 1979.^[2] In the following decades the topic has been covered in research with a broad spectrum of perspectives, which have produced a multitude of theories for causes and mitigation techniques.

A popular theory that attempts to explain the phenomenon of social loafing is the concept of evaluation-potential.^[3] It proposes that the degree to which an individual contribution of a group member is identifiable will determine the likelihood of that individual to either be involved or to socially loaf. Another angle towards explaining social loafing in group situations is the social impact theory which describes the linkage between social forces and the behaviour of a person. ^[4] The theory postulates that when a member of a group is exposed to external social forces, the group has a shielding function and thereby reduces the need of the person to act according to the pressure. Other theories in the evolving field of research address aspects such as an individual’s perception of his or her own contribution in a group setting or the sense of fairness with regards to the equity of effort of different team members. Strategies that aim to mitigate the occurrence of social loafing address specific structural changes that can be implemented in the set-up and functioning of groups, but also include special incentives targeted at individual members.

Overview of social loafing

Research

Historical considerations, experiments

Observations

Gender and cultural aspects

Examples

Theoretical discussion

"Cause 1" (Name)

"Cause 2" (Name)

"Cause 3" (Name)

Mitigation strategies

Group composition

When discussing the composition or structure of a group working on a project, the group size is the most significant metric that has an impact on the performance. Research suggests that the social identity which a group member is sharing with a group has a large impact on the motivation that the individual member has to contribute, and is inversely proportional to the size of the group.^[5] The tendency towards social loafing is therefore greater the larger the group is, which is why the size of the group should be limited. While it is evident that the size of the group has a distinctive influence on its performance, there is an ongoing debate about the exact size which can be regarded as ideal. Different researchers have proposed sizes ranging from two to four at the lower limit and five to six at the upper limit, that have proven to be effective when attempting to achieve the objective of improving performance and mitigating the risk for social loafing.^[6][7]

Next to the group size the group formation plays an important role. The degree to which someone is self-categorizing or identifying himself or herself as a member of a group is predicting the level to which that person is willing to contribute towards the accomplishment of a shared goal. The identification of individuals with a group has shown to be higher when the composition of the group is chosen voluntarily by its members, which in return leads to a higher cohesiveness and solidarity among them.^[8]

Cioffi, D., & Garner, R. (1996). On doing the decision: Effects of active versus passive choice on commitment and self-perception. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(2), 133–147.

Group size

Group formation

Köhler effect

Project scope

While the group constellation in itself has a significant impact on the performance and tendency towards social loafing, the scope and extent of a project plays a crucial role. The observation can be made, that an increasing scope and complexity of a group project leads to a direct increase in its proneness for social loafing.^[2] This is attributed to the observation that individuals who participate in a group project perceive that their contributions as less impactful when a project surmounts a certain extent in scope or exceeds a specific timeframe. An effective measure that can therefore be applied to counteract social loafing is to control the scope of a project, both in terms of the complexity and the timewise extent.

External incentives

According to research, the occurrence of social loafing can be mitigated by introducing specific incentives which lead to an increase of performance that an individual displays in a group setting.^[1] These incentives can be external or internal in their nature, and attempt to attach a sense of value on the one hand, or urgency on the other hand to contributing towards a task. As research is suggesting, a setting in which individual contributions cannot be identified promotes social loafing not only in the individual case but on a collective level. This can be attributed to the fact, that individuals are subjected to less pressure to make a sufficient effort because they can neither be sanctioned for a poor performance nor rewarded for their achievements. ^[9] While the ability to identify an individual contribution is an important step towards the avoidance of social loafing, this measure alone is not sufficient. Through a study performed by Stephen Harkins and Jeffrey Jackson it was concluded, that the performance of an individual does not only have to be identifiable but also quantifiable through evaluation.^[10] Experimentally they found that test subjects who were led to believe that their contribution to a task were not quantifiable despite being identified, did not show any more effort than test subjects that were making contributions which could not be identified. The conclusion is therefore that only the combination of making the contribution of an individual to a group task both identifiable and quantifiable works as a sufficiently potent external incentive.

Internal incentives

Similar to external incentives that can be achieved by structuring the work in a group accordingly, internal incentives can be introduced to mitigate the occurrence of the social loafing phenomenon. While the presented external incentive includes quantifying individual performance through evaluation from the outside, research suggests that the ability of group members to judge their own performance tends to increase their desire to improve their effort.^[11] The cause for this behaviour can be found in the intrinsic desire of individuals to have a favourable perception of themselves. This finding can therefore be used as an internal incentive, by introducing the practice of self-evaluation of the individual members throughout the course of a project. A further aspect that leads individuals to improve their performance in a group context is when they find the task intrinsically interesting. This can either be the case when they perceive task as meaningful or the result of the task has an important relevance. This effect was experimentally proven by researchers John Cacioppo and Richard Petty, by establishing a link between the need for cognition and the affinity towards cognitively challenging tasks.^[12] One measure against social loafing that can therefore be derived from this finding is to attempt assigning individuals to tasks that they find personally interesting and relevant.

Limitations

missing link to other theories, Überschneidunen, Vermischungen

Annotated Bibliography

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Shepperd, J.A. (2001) Social loafing and expectancy-value theory in Multiple Perspectives on the Effects of Evaluation of Performance: Toward an Integratiom. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Latané, B., Williams, K., Harkins, S., (1979) Many Hands Make Light the Work: The Causes and Consequences of Social Loafing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 37, No. 6, 822-832.
3. ↑ Harkins, S.G., Szymanski, K., (1989) Social Loafing and Group Evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 56, No. 6,934-941.
4. ↑ Frash, R.E., Kline, S., Stahura, J.M., (2004) Mitigating Social Loafing in Team-Based Learning. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 3:4, 57-77.
5. ↑ Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (2004) The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior in Jost, J. T., Sidanius, J. Political psychology: Key readings Chicago: Hall Publishers.
6. ↑ Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., Smith, K. A. (1991) Active learning: cooperation in the college classroom. Edina: Interaction Book Company.
7. ↑ Aronson, E., Stephan, C., Sikes, J., Blaney, N., & Snapp, M. (1978). The Jigsaw Classroom. Beverly Hills: Sage Publication.
8. ↑ Cioffi, D., & Garner, R. (1996). On doing the decision: Effects of active versus passive choice on commitment and self-perception. Beverly Hills: Sage Publication.
9. ↑ Kerr, N.L., Bruun, S.E. (1981) Ringelmann Revisited: Alternative Explanations for the Social Loafing Effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 7, No. 2, June 1981, 224-231.
10. ↑ Jackson, J.M., Harkins, S.G. (1985) Equity in Effort: An Explanation of the Social Loafing Effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 49, No. 5, 1199-1206.
11. ↑ Szymanski, K., Harkins, S.G. (1987) Social Loafing and Self-Evaluation With a Social Standard. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 53, No. 5, 891-897.
12. ↑ Cacioppo, J.T., Richard, E.P. (1982) The Need for Cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 42, No. 5, 116-131.