Only When Others Are Watching: The Contingent Efforts of High Status Group Members

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lount, Robert B.; Doyle, Sarah P.; Brion, Sebastien; Pettit, Nathan C.
• 署名单位: University System of Ohio; Ohio State University; University of Arizona; University of Navarra; IESE Business School; New York University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2018.3103
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 3382-3397
• 关键词: organization studies; BEHAVIOR; motivation; performance; status; WORKGROUPS

摘要

This research examines how an individual's place in the status hierarchy affects their willingness to expend effort on group tasks, why this occurs, and a contingency governing this relationship. Among firefighter teams (Study 1), MBA student workgroups (Study 2), and undergraduates in the laboratory (Study 3), we find that the relationship between status and effort, through performance expectations, is contingent on the perceived visibility of one's efforts (i.e., task visibility). When task visibility is high, greater status leads to higher performance expectations. When task visibility is low or absent, this relationship was not present. Overall, our findings help paint a more complete picture of the relationship between status, performance expectations, and effort in workgroups while also furthering our understanding of the psychological experience of status.