Perceptions of Social Loafing During the Process of Group Development

Abstract

We extend the social loafing literature by investigating the role of group development process on perceptions of social loafing within groups. Building on extant literature, we contend that group members association with the group development stages can help in predicting their perceptions of social loafing. While conducting this study we also developed a newer, shorter, better, and cost effective scale to measure four stages of group development. Results of mixed-effect modeling in R utilizing data from 161 individuals nested in 39 groups show that group development stage of Inclusion and Dependency (stage 1) has no significant effect on perceptions of social loafing. Whereas, group development stage of Counter dependency and Fight (stage 2) has positive, and Trust and Structure (stage 3) and Work (stage 4) has negative effect on perception of social loafing by group members. Results and direction for future research are discussed.