The mirage of agreeableness: A study of the impact of free-riding behavior on the sucker-effect
2024 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
In group work, the sucker-effect is a motivational loss in which effort is reduced due to feeling taken advantage of when other group members intentionally avoid work, known as free-riding. No previous studies on the sucker-effect have investigated moderating factors that can be attributed to the free-rider. The purpose of this study was to explore if agreeable behavior of a free-rider would moderate the sucker-effect, and if so, to what extent. Using an experimental design, students (n = 20) at Södertörn University served as participants. A systematic allocation toone of two conditions was used, the less agreeable and more agreeable. During the experiment a participant and a confederate worked in dyadson a disjunctive cooperative jigsaw puzzle task. The manipulation was the free-riding confederate's level of agreeableness. Self-rated effort andactual performance were measured. Using Mann-Whitney U-tests (α =.05, two-tailed), no significant differences were found in either of thedependent variables. In fact, by and large, no sucker-effect was observed at all. Other than manipulating the confederate's level of agreeableness, the design allowed for much more interaction in the dyads than previous studies on the sucker-effect have. It is discussed whether this interaction might have created an ingroup feeling, leading to the prevention of asucker-effect. In this study it thus seems that the free-rider's level of agreeableness does not moderate the sucker-effect. Also, meaningful interaction between group members might prevent a sucker-effect fromoccurring at all. However, due to the study's small sample size, theseresults are not definitive and should be taken with caution.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. , p. 20
Keywords [en]
Sucker-effect, free-rider, social loafing, agreeableness, group work, in-group, out-group, dyads, motivational loss
National Category
Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-53414OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-53414DiVA, id: diva2:1833241
Subject / course
Psychology
Supervisors
2024-02-012024-01-312024-02-01Bibliographically approved