Group sex composition and member task motivation

Kerr, Norbert L.; Sullaway, Megan

doi:10.1007/bf00289676

Cited by 27 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The behavior of females in two studies (Jackson, Williams, & Latane, 1978;Swanson & Tjosvold, 1979) was consistent with the prescriptions of traditional sex roles; females were less productive when they worked with a male partner than with a female partner. However, the validity of these findings is clouded by several methodological prob1ems.l On the other hand, Kerr and Sullaway (1983) found that both male and female members of mixed-sex dyads outperformed isolated individuals, whereas members of same-sex dyads performed no better than individuals.…”

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confidence: 95%

“…Several other models were advanced by Kerr and Sullaway (1983) as possible explanations for their findings (viz., both sexes worked hardest in mixedsex dyads). One is an esteem maintenance model, which suggests that in a cooperative work setting both sexes are much more concerned with demonstrating their value to the group and their competence to an opposite sex partner than to a same-sex partner.…”

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confidence: 97%

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Sex Composition of Groups and Member Motivation II: Effects of Relative Task Ability

Kerr¹,

MacCoun²

1984

Basic and Applied Social Psychology

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confidence: 95%

Section: Please Scroll Down For Articlementioning

confidence: 97%

Sex Composition of Groups and Member Motivation II: Effects of Relative Task Ability

Kerr¹,

MacCoun²

1984

Basic and Applied Social Psychology

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“…Empirical demonstrations of the opposite result, where one or more workers actually try harder when performing in a group or team than as individuals have been far less frequent and prominent. Yet there is some evidence of such group motivation gains in the literature, particularly in the last decade or so (e.g., Erev, Bornstein, & Galili, 1993;Hertel, Kerr, & Messé, 2000a;Kerr & MacCoun, 1984;Kerr & Sullaway, 1983;Stroebe, Diehl, & Abakoumkin, 1996;Williams & Karau, 1991;Worchel, Rothgerber, Day, Hart, & Butemeyer, 1998). The present study focuses on one such group motivation-gain phenomenon, the Köhler effect (Köhler, 1926)-a tendency of less able workers to perform better when members of a team working under conjunctive task demands (where the performance of the least capable member defines the group's level of performance; Steiner, 1972) than when working individually.…”

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confidence: 95%

Social ostracism and group motivation gain

Kerr

Seok

Poulsen

et al. 2008

Euro J Social Psych

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There is considerable evidence from the social loafing literature that groups can often undermine task motivation (relative to comparable individual performers). There is less but growing evidence that under the appropriate conditions, working in a group can have the opposite effect and actually produce a motivation gain. Little is known about how such motivation losses and gains are affected by the social relationships among group members. The present experiment examined the effect of being ostracized by one's work partner on the Köhler motivation gain (which occurs when less able team members work harder under conjunctive group task demands than when working individually). Such ostracism attenuated but did not eliminate the Köhler motivation gain. Ostracism only had such a moderating effect when participants worked in a group, not under comparable coactive work conditions. It is argued that social ostracism can undermine group members' concern for group success or for protecting their reputation in the group without affecting the social comparison processes that also contribute to the Köhler effect. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Considerable research has by now documented that members of task performing groups often engage in social loafingthat is, they exert less effort than comparable individual performers (see Williams, 1993 and Shepperd, 1993, for reviews). Empirical demonstrations of the opposite result, where one or more workers actually try harder when performing in a group or team than as individuals have been far less frequent and prominent. Yet there is some evidence of such group motivation gains in the literature, particularly in the last decade or so (e.g., Erev, Bornstein, & Galili, 1993;Hertel, Kerr, & Messé, 2000a;Kerr & MacCoun, 1984;Kerr & Sullaway, 1983;Stroebe, Diehl, & Abakoumkin, 1996;Williams & Karau, 1991;Worchel, Rothgerber, Day, Hart, & Butemeyer, 1998). The present study focuses on one such group motivation-gain phenomenon, the Köhler effect (Köhler, 1926)-a tendency of less able workers to perform better when members of a team working under conjunctive task demands (where the performance of the least capable member defines the group's level of performance; Steiner, 1972) than when working individually. Our immediate focus is on whether and how this motivation gain is affected by the social ties among group members-specifically, how being ostracized by the rest of one's team affects one's willingness to work especially hard for the team.Several studies of the Köhler effect have now established the effect's robustness (e.g., Hertel et al., 2000a;Stroebe et al., 1996), determined a number of boundary conditions and moderators (e.g., Messé, Hertel, Kerr, Lount, & Park, 2002;Kerr, Messé, Park, & Sambolec, 2005;Lount, Messé, & Kerr, 2000), and most importantly, begun to identify the psychological processes that underlie it (e.g., Hertel et al., 2000a, Exp. 2; Hertel, Niemeyer, & Clauss, in press;Kerr, Messé, Seok, Sambolec, Lount, & Park, 2007). In particular, the Köhler...

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“…Additionally, the likelihood of observing motivation gains can be influenced by information about the comparison target. Intergroup settings that allow for comparisons between groups, or between individuals who differ on a salient social category (e.g., gender) have not only been shown to eliminate social loafing (e.g., Erev, Bornstein, & Galili, 1993;Harkins & Szymanski, 1989;James & Greenberg, 1989;Mulvey & Ribbens, 1999;Ouwerkerk et al, 2000;Worchel et al, 1998) but to elicit motivation gains as well (e.g., Kerr & Sullaway, 1983;Lount, Messé, & Kerr, 2000;Lount & Phillips, 2007).…”

Section: Motivation Gains In Intergroup Settingsmentioning

confidence: 98%