Antecedents of student team formation in higher education

Carlos A. de Matos Fernandes, Marion Hoffman and Jasperina Brouwer
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Carlos A. de Matos Fernandes: University of Groningen [Groningen]
Marion Hoffman: TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Jasperina Brouwer: University of Groningen [Groningen]

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Abstract: Background: Students often form project teams by themselves rather than impose pre-defined teams because it leads to better study outcomes. However, few scholars have investigated the mechanisms driving the formation of self-organized groups. Aims: We examine three underlying and interrelated antecedents of project team formation: friendships, familiarity with fellow team members due to prior co-working experiences, and similarity of team members regarding gender, academic achievement, and preferred collaborators. Sample: The data encompasses 70 first-year university students asked to self-form teams to carry out a semester project. Methods: We utilize Exponential Random Partition Models. This new method allows us to model how friendships, familiarity, and similarity affect self-organized group compositions while accounting for each factor's relative importance. Results: The results show that friends are more likely to end up in the same team than non-friends. Similarity is also an important antecedent for team formation: Students with the same gender and similar grades are more likely to end up in the same team. Familiarity and preferred collaboration showed negligible effects. Conclusions: Our findings emphasize that educators must consider academic and non-academic factors when allowing students to self-organize in teams, depending on what goal educators strive to achieve with team projects.

Keywords: Group composition; Friendship; Similarity; Project teams; Exponential random partition model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-08
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Published in Learning and Instruction, 2024, 92, pp.101931. ⟨10.1016/j.learninstruc.2024.101931⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04713868

DOI: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2024.101931

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