Sustaining Collaborative Effort in Work Teams: Exchange Ideology and Employee Social Loafing

Gukdo Byun, Soojin Lee, Steven J. Karau and Ye Dai
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Gukdo Byun: School of Business, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea
Soojin Lee: College of Business Administration, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea
Steven J. Karau: College of Business, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA
Ye Dai: College of Business, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: To sustain the effort of work team members as a collaborative resource over time, organizations need to avoid the social loafing of employees. Recognizing the importance of this relationship, we investigated both individual (i.e., exchange ideology) and situational factors (i.e., task visibility and professional respect) that influence employees’ attitudes toward social exchange and team collaboration and thus their social loafing. Using survey responses of 223 employee–supervisor dyads in South Korean firms, hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that employees with a low exchange ideology were unlikely to engage in social loafing. In addition, exchange ideology interacted with both task visibility and professional respect to influence social loafing. Specifically, task visibility was negatively associated with social loafing, and this effect was stronger when employees were low, rather than high, in exchange ideology. Moreover, professional respect was negatively associated with social loafing, and this effect was stronger among those low in exchange ideology. Thus, a low level of exchange ideology can reduce social loafing and can also enhance the potential for task visibility and professional respect to strengthen effort levels. Accordingly, this study suggested that individual characteristics, especially exchange ideology, are important in reducing social loafing and clearly stated what managerial guidelines can be implemented to practically reduce social loafing.

Keywords: social loafing; exchange ideology; task visibility; professional respect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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