Coalition formation in triads with single-peaked payoff curves

Abstract

Coalition formation in decision making of three-person group systems was studied using a coalition game. This was devised as an analogue for many situations in which groups make decisions, both in “real life” and in laboratory experiments. One of the important findings of the study was that in this game, unlike the games usually employed in coalition research, the “resources” that the triad members possessed had relatively little effect upon which members tended to enter into a coalition or upon which of the partners to a coalition tended to receive the larger payoff. Instead, the formation of coalitions tended to depend upon whether the payoff structure of the game made it possible for the partners in a particular coalition to reach an agreement giving both of them relatively large payoffs. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research on coalitions.