Looking backward through the looking glass: Reference groups and social comparison

Lee, Juil; Rhee, Mooweon; Park, Kyung Min

doi:10.1017/jmo.2018.58

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 120 publications

(170 reference statements)

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“…Collectives can exercise substantial social influence through information sharing, observational learning, and more direct acts of intervention. As such, reference groups are to be considered important factors in determining the extent to which students embrace the changes demanded by sustainable development [90,91]. Reference groups may extend to the virtual world through social media applications, which benefit widespread use in Saudi Arabia [92].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contradictions about Sustainability: A Case Study of College Students from Saudi Arabia

Al‐Zohbi

Pilotti

2023

Sustainability

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The present study offers a window into college students’ views of environmental sustainability in a country that is one of the major oil producers in the world. College students are the main constituents of the country’s programmatic plan (i.e., the 2030 Vision) for restructuring its infrastructure and human capital away from oil and gas production and toward a knowledge and service economy. Thus, their views can influence the success of the plan. In the present study, 430 college students at a university located at the heart of the oil and gas region were surveyed via an online questionnaire. Participants were of Middle Eastern descent. It was found that their beliefs and reported actions were generally supportive of a green economy. However, their beliefs in climate change and specifically in renewable energy did not predict much of their sustainability-based behaviors (e.g., recycling). The latter findings were interpreted as reflecting the internal conflict between embracing change (i.e., a desirable but uncertain future), and resisting change (i.e., a choice that would preserve, at least for some time, the benefits of the fossil fuel economy).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contradictions about Sustainability: A Case Study of College Students from Saudi Arabia

Al‐Zohbi

Pilotti

2023

Sustainability

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“…First, firms may attend to multiple reference groups simultaneously. Therefore, it will be important to continue examining how firms attend to multiple reference groups (Gaba and Greve, 2019;Hu et al, 2017;Kacperczyk, Beckman and Moliterno, 2015) and why and when they switch among them (Lee, Rhee and Park, 2020). Second, firms may form a reference group that simultaneously caters for multiple motives.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the light of the centrality of the upward comparison, it is surprising that – apart from the papers by Beckman and Lee (2017), Labianca et al. (2009) and Lee, Rhee and Park (2020) – striving has rarely been discussed in the PFT literature. Some PFT papers refer to the industry leaders’ performance (Askin and Bothner, 2016; Blettner et al.…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This, in turn, will inhibit learning from performance feedback (Jordan and Audia, 2012). In line with the self‐enhancement motive, organizations may retrospectively revise their reference group selection by comparing themselves to even lower performing reference groups (Jordan and Audia, 2012; Lee, Rhee and Park, 2020; Wills, 1981). Such self‐enhancement mechanisms have been associated with weaker organizational responses (Audia, Brion and Greve, 2015).…”

Section: Proposition Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self‐Assessment versus Self‐Improvement Motives: How Does Social Reference Group Selection Influence Organizational Responses to Performance Feedback?

Blettner

Kotiloglu

Lechler

2023

British J of Management

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The performance feedback theory (PFT) proposes that organizations compare their performance to other organizations (i.e. their social reference group) and initiate responses based on this comparison. While social comparison represents a core element of the PFT, it is not well understood how organizations select social reference groups and how this selection may affect organizational responses (e.g. risk‐taking, change, innovation). We propose that the motives that organizations use to select their social reference groups impact their responses to performance feedback. Our meta‐analysis of 99 empirical PFT studies focuses on two motives underlying the selection of social reference groups for performance feedback: self‐assessment and self‐improvement. While self‐assessment through comparison requires the selection of a relevant set of referent organizations, self‐improvement relies on the selection of the highest performing referent organizations. Our results show that organizational responses to performance feedback differ depending on which motive‐based reference group is selected for comparison. These differences are more evident when performance is above aspirations. This finding has important implications for PFT researchers to predict organizational responses more precisely.

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“…We improve our understanding of this process by taking a view that is more comprehensive and representative of the process originally proposed by Cyert and March (1992). Many scholars have called for more studies on the cognitive underpinnings of PFT (Lee et al. , 2020; Posen et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What role does generic strategy play in how managers adapt their aspirations in response to performance feedback?

Ruckman

Blettner

2022

JSMA

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PurposeWhen managers set aspirations for their firms, they typically compare their own firms' performance to past aspirations as well as to the performance of social reference groups. The authors explore how firm generic strategy affects managers' adaptation of firm aspirations in response to feedback from three social reference groups that vary in terms of breadth (population average, strategic group, and one direct rival).Design/methodology/approachThe authors propose that firm generic strategy (low-cost or differentiation) functions as an organizational information filter through with managers interpret performance feedback. The authors test for whether generic strategy has a moderating effect on the influence of performance feedback from social reference groups.FindingsBased on a longitudinal sample of US airlines, the study shows that all firms are influenced most strongly by their strategic groups. Low-cost and differentiation generic strategies differ in terms of which social reference group motivates a larger reaction when overperforming: low-cost firms are more influenced by the population average which is contributed to by the entire industry than are differentiating firms, while differentiating firms are more swayed by the narrow focus of their direct rivals than are low-cost firms.Originality/valueAlthough firm strategy represents a core decision at the firm level, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, performance feedback research, surprisingly, has not yet integrated generic strategy into its models.

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Looking backward through the looking glass: Reference groups and social comparison

Cited by 7 publications

References 120 publications

Contradictions about Sustainability: A Case Study of College Students from Saudi Arabia

Contradictions about Sustainability: A Case Study of College Students from Saudi Arabia

Self‐Assessment versus Self‐Improvement Motives: How Does Social Reference Group Selection Influence Organizational Responses to Performance Feedback?

What role does generic strategy play in how managers adapt their aspirations in response to performance feedback?

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