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Social loafing: A review of the literature

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... Herding in Team1 occurred due to social loafing (indifference) and lack of domain competency. Team leaders had two choices: (a) stoop to the level of loafer (Karau & Williams, 1993;Simms, 2014) and reduce their output or (b) take the leadership role and complete the task to the best of their abilities (Karau & Williams, 1993;Simms, 2014). Team leaders took the second approach. ...
... Herding in Team1 occurred due to social loafing (indifference) and lack of domain competency. Team leaders had two choices: (a) stoop to the level of loafer (Karau & Williams, 1993;Simms, 2014) and reduce their output or (b) take the leadership role and complete the task to the best of their abilities (Karau & Williams, 1993;Simms, 2014). Team leaders took the second approach. ...
... An interesting area of study would be to change the nature of the task from structured to semi-structured and to study the indifference and incompetence impact on herding. Recently some researchers have argued that distrust is not all bad (Lowry et al., 2014;Simms, 2014;etc.). It would be interesting to study whether distrust can lead to less or more herding over time. ...
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Herding can impact a group outcome in different ways and can lead to functional or dysfunctional teams resulting in optimal, sub-optimal outcomes, or no outcome. The authors study herding in context of teams with a measurable outcome and discuss how they impact group performance. They use Conradt’s model of three level of decision making with group member’s characteristics (incompetent, indifferent, imitator, and interactor) to study herding. The study indicates that herding is dynamic and develops as levels of communication changes with incompetence and indifference of members. The study also reveals that partial herding can occur where some group member(s) herd while others continue the work. This study is significant since it includes indifference and incompetence as two new factors that can lead to herding possibly leading to sub optimal results. Future research areas are also discussed.
... However, it is equally crucial to consider students' motivational beliefs and emotions. Low motivations and negative emotions can lead to social loafing (Simms & Nichols, 2014) and fear of evaluation from group members (Salazar-Ayala et al., 2021), both of which can contribute to the failure of collaborative learning (Nokes-Malach et al., 2015). Hence, recognizing and understanding students' motivational beliefs and emotions can provide essential insights for enhancing the effectiveness of collaborative learning in L2 classrooms. ...
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Although the benefits of collaborative learning across disciplines are well-established, its effectiveness hinges on the quality of execution. Motivational beliefs and emotions are crucial in students' engagement and achievement. Yet, a notable gap exists in examining these variables among students with varying proficiency levels in the context of collaborative learning. To address the gap, the present study investigated 289 fourth- and fifth-grade Hong Kong primary students’ motivational beliefs and emotions in ESL collaborative learning and explored the variation across students’ actual and self-perceived English proficiency. The findings revealed an overall high level of motivational beliefs alongside a medium level of anxiety. Structural equation modelling analyses indicated that self-perceived proficiency positively influenced students' motivational beliefs, whereas actual proficiency did not make a unique contribution. Both self-perceived and actual proficiency, as well as their interaction, reduced anxiety. Actual proficiency had a stronger negative impact on anxiety when self-perceived proficiency was high, and the influence of self-perceived proficiency was significant only when actual proficiency was high. Practical implications are discussed.
... In addition, we found evidence for social loafing attenuating the effectiveness of our nudge intervention but did not find evidence supporting the role of group conformity in promoting health behaviors in collectivist Indonesia as participants in the group condition purchased more regular, not fewer, sugar teas than participants in the individual condition. This finding contradicts earlier research that found that working in a team, particularly in collectivistic cultures, might improve the performance of team members (see Simms & Nichols, 2014, for a review). Our results are supportive of a similar social loafing effect in collectivistic Indonesia as was found in individualistic cultures (Cade et al., 2009;Zhang et al., 2016). ...
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Objetivo: Este experimento de campo examinó la eficacia de una intervención de estímulo conductual para reducir la ingesta de azúcar en Indonesia. Específicamente, se probaron dos hipótesis en competencia sobre si el empujón conductual desempeñaba un papel aditivo (es decir, la hipótesis incremental) o contribuía a un efecto techo (es decir, la hipótesis de saturación) junto con el contexto social y la competencia en un programa de intervención multimodal. Métodos: Este experimento de campo utilizó un diseño mixto de tres factores que involucró a 403 participantes indonesios basado en un análisis estadístico de poder: 2 (empujón al contenido de azúcar: té con bajo contenido de azúcar vs. té con azúcar regular predeterminado) × 2 (contexto social: individual vs. grupo) × 2 (competencia: ausente vs. presente). Resultados: El empujón fue la intervención más poderosa para reducir la ingesta de azúcar, pero su efectividad podría verse atenuada por la holgazanería social, incluso dentro de la cultura colectivista de Indonesia. La competencia no funcionó sinérgicamente con el empujón, pero fue efectiva en la condición de no empujón. Conclusión: Nuestros resultados son consistentes con los de investigaciones anteriores que muestran que el empujón conductual tiene un impacto más fuerte en el cambio de comportamiento que las estrategias sin empujón. Al contrario de algunas investigaciones anteriores, la gente en la Indonesia colectivista sí se involucraba en holgazanería social: la motivación por el logro no necesariamente aumenta en un equipo de personas en una cultura colectivista. La interacción “Empujón × Competencia” (“Nudge × Competition”) respalda la hipótesis de la saturación a favor del empujón conductual: el uso de más de una intervención, cuando está presente una estrategia potente como el empujón, podría dar como resultado rendimientos decrecientes que podrían reducir el perfil general de costo-beneficio de dichos programas de intervención multimodal.
... Price, et.al, 2006 explain that social loafing can be a common factor that reduces sustained effort and collaboration among students, as well as the effectiveness and performance within a group [5]. Additionally, if one group member consistently puts in more effort in the group project, other members are more likely to engage in a "free ride" behavior because they believe the success of the group project is guaranteed based on the overachieving member's efforts [12]. Social loafing directly threatens the group's productivity and should be balanced among all group members [13]. ...
Article
Social loafing is influenced by factors like the absence of individual contribution evaluation, unclear responsibility distribution, and intrinsic motivation. Equity theory posits that individuals compare inputs and outcomes with others and respond to eliminate inequity. When one group member engages in social loafing, others may reduce their efforts to avoid being perceived as “suckers.” Conversely, if one member overachieves, others may free-ride on their efforts. This behavior threatens group productivity and should be balanced among members. A survey revealed that many students felt some group members were unproductive, indicating social loafing behavior. The study examined the impact of equity on social loafing behavior, hypothesizing that equity negatively affects social loafing. Linear regression analysis was employed, and data were collected from 106 students. The findings indicate a significant negative relationship between equity and social loafing, supporting the hypothesis. Inadequate equity perceptions can lead to the spread of social loafing, impacting group performance. In conclusion, equity plays a crucial role in mitigating social loafing behavior in group learning processes. Clear rules and guidelines for group assignments can help maintain equity perceptions among students, ultimately fostering a more productive and collaborative learning environment. Keywords: social loafing behavior, students, group work
... 29 Social loafing arises when group members over-rely on others in the group and contribute less effort than if they were working alone. 30 The optimal CCC meeting frequency is unclear. It will often depend on the volume of learners and the number of committee members. ...
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This book discusses the ins and outs of a new approach to competency-based education in the education and training of health professionals, including doctors and medical specialists, but also nurses, dentists, pharmacists, veterinarians, physiotherapists and others. Embedded in a conceptual discussion of what competence in health professionals means, the book discusses theoretical foundations of trust and entrustment of trainees with the practice of patient care tasks. It elaborates the implications for identifying the objectives of training, formulated as entrustable professional activities (EPAs), for the associated curriculum development, for assessment of trainees in the clinical workplace, for faculty development and for the management of large scale change in health professions education. In the past decade, EPAs have been proposed, piloted or implemented in all sectors of health professions education and in countries across all continents. Yet, there is a widely felt desire for a better understanding of all related concepts. This text was written with teachers, educational managers, educational scholars, and health profession trainees in mind. The book is the result of a collaboration of fifty highly engaged authors, all actively involved in their own projects and studies around EPAs and workplace-based assessment, as teachers, developers and managers. All chapters have been critically read and commented on by internal and external reviewers, making this work a state of the art document about the topic.
Article
This study aims to examine the relationship between the perception of job insecurity and social loafing behavior, and the mediating role of self-esteem. Since, no study was observed in the literature that uses the self-esteem variable as a mediating variable in the relationship between the perception of job insecurity and social loafing behavior, the importance of this study becomes evident and it is an original study in this respect. In the study, data obtained by survey method from 248 white-collar employees working in Istanbul were used. The results of the study reveal that the perception of job insecurity has a positive effect on social loafing behavior, self-esteem negatively affects social loafing behavior, and self-esteem partially mediates the effect of job insecurity perception on social loafing behavior. Also, the study revealed whether the variables differed significantly according to demographic data and the results were discussed. In light of the results, managements of businesses are recommended to create a work environment that prioritizes job security, minimize work stress, seek the opinions of employees, and identify and prioritize individuals with high self-esteem in the recruitment process.
Article
Örgütsel adalet, bireylerde örgütle ilgili oluşan adalet duygusu ve bu duygudan kaynaklanan davranışları ifade etmektedir. Örgütsel adaletin işletmelerde bazı olumsuz sonuçlara neden olduğu bilinmektedir. Bu olumsuz sonuçlardan biri sosyal kaytarmadır. Sosyal kaytarma, grup çalışmalarında bireylerin çeşitli nedenlerle kendi potansiyellerinden ve bireysel olarak gösterebilecekleri performanstan daha düşük bir seviyeyi bilerek ortaya koymalarıdır. Çalışanlar bazen bilerek, bazen de bilmeden verdikleri izlenimi yönetmeye yönelik aksiyonları ve bununla ilgili taktikler ile kaytarma davranışlarını gizleyebilmektedirler. Bu çalışmada, bireylerin örgütsel adalet algılarının sosyal kaytarma davranışlarına ne derecede etkide bulunduğu ve bu etkide çalışanların diğer üyeleri üzerinde yarattıkları izlenimi yönetmek için kullandıkları izlenim yönetimi taktiklerinin aracı rolünün olup olmadığının araştırılması amacı ile yapılmıştır. Araştırma, İstanbul’da çalışan beyaz yakalı 226 kişiden kolayda örnekleme yoluyla elde edilen verilerle test edilmiştir. Araştırmada, örgütsel adalet algısı ile sosyal kaytarma arasında anlamlı ve negatif, izlenim yönetimi ile sosyal kaytarma arasında pozitif anlamlı ilişkiler tespit edilmiştir. Örgütsel adalet algısının sosyal kaytarma üzerinde negatif etkisi olduğu, örgütsel adaletin izlenim yönetimi taktikleri üzerinde anlamlı bir etkisinin olmadığı bulgusuna ulaşılmıştır. Son olarak izlenim yönetiminin cinsiyete göre, sosyal kaytarmanın yaşa ve eğitim durumuna göre anlamlı bir şekilde farklılaştığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.
Preprint
The replication crisis in psychology and related sciences contributed to the adoption of large-scale research initiatives known as Big Team Science (BTS). BTS has made significant advances in addressing issues of replication, statistical power, and diversity through the use of larger samples and more representative cross-cultural data. However, while these collaborations hold great potential, they also introduce unique challenges related to their scale. Drawing on experiences from successful BTS projects, we identified and outlined key strategies for overcoming diversity, volunteering, and capacity challenges. We emphasize the need for the implementation of strong organizational practices and the distribution of responsibility to prevent common pitfalls. More fundamentally, BTS requires a shift in mindset toward prioritizing collaborative effort, diversity, transparency, and inclusivity. Ultimately, we call for reflection on the strengths and limitations of BTS to enhance the quality, generalizability, and impact of research across disciplines.
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