Investigating Social Loafing in Conducting an Undergraduate Thesis among Student-Researchers in UM Tagum College: A Mixed-Methods Inquiry

Abstract

Social Loafing pertains to the tendency of a person to exert less effort whenever working in groups compared to working alone. A behaviour dubbed as ‘social cancer’ and can even negatively affect individuals, organizations, and society. There is an apparent lack of studies when it comes to social loafing in the academe. As such, this study was initiated with the following objectives: (1) determine the level of social loafing of student researchers and (2) uncover the lived experiences of student-researchers who encounter social loafing within their groups. The study employed a mixed method, particularly a sequential explanatory design composed of two phases. Phase one involved a quantitative approach wherein a survey was used to collect data from 385 student-researchers. The data showed an overall low level of social loafing among the student-researchers. Phase 2 employed a qualitative approach which selected 14 participants. According to the participants, a sense of regret in group selection was experienced because of their negative experiences with social loafers in their group. Their experience may come across as emotional distress and unfair allocation of tasks. Moreover, participants shared coping strategies with their experience: entertainment immersion, sentiment expression, and establishing agreements. Practical implications as well as future directions were also provided from the study.