The DOI matches its Crossref record; 27 of the 27 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Social loafing and group evaluation
Abstract
Recent work (e.g., Harkins, 1987; Szymanski & Harkins, 1987) has suggested that social loafing occurs because participants' outputs cannot be evaluated by the experimenter, by the coactors, or by the participants themselves. This analysis has focused on the output of the individual, but in loafing research, participants work together to produce a product. However, in this prior work participants have been unable to make anything of this product, because no standard of comparison has been made available. Several recent formulations (e.g., Goethals & Darley, 1987) have suggested that the potential for evaluation could motivate performance. Testing this hypothesis in 2 experiments, 1 using an optimizing task and the other a maximizing task, we found that providing a standard that allowed the group to evaluate its performance eliminated the loafing effect. The implications of these findings for current theories of evaluation are discussed.
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“our findings that whole-dorm feedback can motivate conservation is consistent with other research findings that feedback on the performance of larger groups can effectively motivate behavior change [35].”
In the citing paper
“A substantial body of research (e.g., George, 1992; Harkins and Szymanski, 1989) identifies individual responsibility, task identifiability, and accountability as key mechanisms for mitigating social loafing.”
From The Moderating Influence of In-Group Collectivism on Social Loafing: An Experimental Study on a Manufacturing Factory (2026) · cites this paper as Harkins and Szymanski, 1989
Citations
Cites
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Brewer, M. B. (1979) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.86.2.307 · Cited by 3,411
Many Hands Make Light the Work: The Causes and Consequences of Social Loafing
Latané, B., Williams, K., & Harkins, S. (1979) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.37.6.822 · Cited by 2,216
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Mullen, B. R., & Goethals, G. R. (1987) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4634-3 · Cited by 985
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–202 of 202
Zhao, H. M., Huang, Y., Liu, B., & Han, M. (2025) · The Journal of Creative Behavior · doi:10.1002/jocb.70055
Differences in Social Loafing Among Guidance and Counseling Students Based on University Cohort
Putri, E. L., & Hariko, R. (2026) · Grief and Trauma · doi:10.59388/gt.v4i1.951
Metadata
- Authors
- Harkins, S. G., & Szymanski, K.
- Affiliations
- Northeastern University (US)
- ORCID
- Szymanski, Kate
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 1989-06
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 934-941
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W1979172573
- Cited by
- 198
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 2.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Team Dynamics and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Power and Status Dynamics
- Keywords
- social loafing, group assessment, performance evaluation (human resources), evaluation standards, group performance, motivation
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