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06:48
The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior
Published on: January 19, 2019
Assigned experts with competitive goals withhold information in group decision making
Claudia Toma1, Dimitri Vasiljevic, Dominique Oberlé
1Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium. claudia.toma@uclouvain.be
The British Journal of Social Psychology
|May 15, 2012
Summary
Expertise assignment in group decision-making helps information sharing during cooperation but hinders it during competition. This effect depends on group members' cooperative or competitive goals.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Organizational Behavior
- Decision Sciences
Background:
- Expertise assignment is a strategy to enhance information pooling in group decision-making.
- Previous research suggests expertise assignment generally improves group outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the conditional effect of expertise assignment on information pooling in group decision-making.
- To test the hypothesis that expertise assignment benefits cooperative groups but harms competitive groups.
Main Methods:
- Three-person groups performed a hidden-profile task.
- Expertise was assigned to some members, while others were not assigned expertise.
- Groups were instructed to either cooperate or compete.
Main Results:
- Expertise assignment decreased unshared information pooling and repetitions in competitive groups.
- Expertise assignment increased unshared information pooling and reduced repetitions in cooperative groups.
- The interaction between expertise and goal (cooperation/competition) was mediated by perceived competence differences.
Conclusions:
- Expertise assignment's impact on information sharing is contingent on group members' goals.
- Cooperative goals amplify the benefits of expertise, while competitive goals negate them.
- Understanding goal structures is crucial for optimizing expertise utilization in groups.
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