The Surprising Capacity of the Company You Keep: Revealing Group Cohesion as a Powerful Factor of Team Production

Simon Gaechter (), Chris Starmer () and Fabio Tufano
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Simon Gaechter: University of Nottingham
Chris Starmer: University of Nottingham
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Simon Gächter

No 2019-16, Discussion Papers from The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham

Abstract: We introduce the concept of 'group cohesion' to study the economic consequences of social relationships in team production. We measure group cohesion, adapting the 'oneness scale' from psychology to group level. A series of experiments, including a pre-registered replication, reveals that higher cohesion groups are more likely to achieve Pareto-superior outcomes in weak-link coordination games. Judged against benchmarks, the effects of cohesion are economically large. We identify beliefs rather than social preferences as a primary mechanism explaining the effects of cohesion. Our comprehensive evidence establishes group cohesion as a powerful production factor and a useful new tool of economic research.

Keywords: Group Cohesion; Oneness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-net and nep-soc
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:not:notcdx:2019-16

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