Thinking about cooperative learning: The impacts of epistemic motives and social structure on cooperative learning environments

Abstract

The effects of epistemic motives and individual social structure on behaviors that affect cooperation in a learning environment have important implications for cooperative learning and management education. Specifically, the impacts of these two factors on promotive behaviors that are essential to cooperative learning are examined. The effect of social structures and epistemic motives on learning outcomes is introduced into the cooperative learning and management education literature. Hypotheses are developed and tested. The results suggest that social structures have different implications for individuals depending on their epistemic motives. For individuals with a need for closure, social networks offer protection from social ambiguity and assignment uncertainty, whereas, for individuals with a need for cognition, social networks provide social opportunity and assignment sustenance in an interdependent cooperative learning environment. The results have important implications for other learning approaches (e.g., active learning, experiential learning, service learning) that lean on cooperation among students for important learning outcomes. Implications and recommendations are discussed.