Student Perceptions of Social Loafing in Undergraduate Business Classroom Teams

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2008

Abstract

There is a rich body of research devoted to the causes and remedies of social loafing in workplace teams. However, the social loafing phenomenon remains under investigated from the perspective of students in undergraduate business classroom teams. In particular, how they define and respond to loafing remains unknown. This article reports findings from a two-stage study that shows social loafing as a more complex construct than current conceptions suggest. Moreover, students avoid confronting loafers and prefer to have instructors administer post priori justice based on their self-report of individual contributions. Based on the findings and recent writings, the article speculates on the causes of these student responses to social loafing in classroom teams.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4609.2008.00183.x

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