Measuring

Simon Gächter, Chris Starmer () and Fabio Tufano
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Chris Starmer: University of Nottingham

No 15512, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We introduce "group cohesion" to study the economic relevance of social relationships in team production. We operationalize measurement of group cohesion, adapting the "oneness scale" from psychology. A series of experiments, including a pre-registered replication, reveals strong positive associations between group cohesion and performance assessed in weak-link coordination games, with high-cohesion groups being very likely to achieve superior equilibria. In exploratory analysis, we identify beliefs rather than social preferences as the primary mechanism through which factors proxied by group cohesion influence group performance. Our evidence provides proof-of-concept for group cohesion as a useful tool for economic research and practice.

Keywords: weak-link game; coordination; oneness; group cohesion; social relationships; experiments; real groups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C92 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2022-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-gth and nep-soc
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Published - revised version published online as 'Measuring 'Group Cohesion' to Reveal the Power of Social Relationships in Team Production' in: Review of Economics and Statistics , December 09 2024

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