Social loafing and identifiability: the mediating role of achievement goal orientations

Encountering uncertainty and complexity in decision-making: an observational study of clinical reasoning among medical and interprofessional groups of health care students

Poor teamwork and clinical decisions have a major impact on patient outcomes and safety. Clinical decision-making rarely occurs under ideal conditions, but complex health care environments make this particularly challenging for new graduate health professionals as beginner practitioners. Recent evidence indicates that effective collaboration also enhances quality of clinical decisions for patients with complex needs. However, collaborative decision-making is not standard in educational curricula, where clinical decision-making is usually taught in profession-specific courses emphasizing individual rationality and cognition. The aim of this study was to gain detailed insights into the practice of clinical decision-making by small groups of medical and other health care students. A qualitative observational study design was used. Students (n = 45) took part in a short role-play of a hospital clinical ethics committee meeting discussing three complex patient cases, considering clinical and ethical aspects of care, and made a group decision about priorities for treatment. Audio-recorded data were transcribed verbatim and inductively analyzed based on Strauss's "Theoretical Coding" approach. Coding and interpretation of transcripts resulted in three key themes: a) values/beliefs as a basis for negotiation; b) encountering obstacles; c) overcoming obstacles. All groups benefited from shared knowledge, assisting each other in dealing with uncertainty and perceived emotional burden. In small groups, they were able to overcome challenges and fulfil a goal potentially beyond many of them as individuals. Provision of learning opportunities where students learn to share expertise and decision-making responsibilities has the potential to optimize their learning in preparation for challenges in future practice.

Mental Toughness Moderates Social Loafing in Cycle Time-Trial Performance

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to determine if mental toughness moderated the occurrence of social loafing in cycle time-trial performance.

METHOD

Twenty-seven men (Mage = 17.7 years, SD = 0.6) completed the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire prior to completing a 1-min cycling trial under 2 conditions: once with individual performance identified, and once in a group with individual performance not identified. Using a median split of the mental toughness index, participants were divided into high and low mental toughness groups. Cycling distance was compared using a 2 (trial) × 2 (high-low mental toughness) analysis of variance. We hypothesized that mentally tough participants would perform equally well under both conditions (i.e., no indication of social loafing) compared with low mentally tough participants, who would perform less well when their individual performance was not identifiable (i.e., demonstrating the anticipated social loafing effect).

RESULTS

The high mental toughness group demonstrated consistent performance across both conditions, while the low mental toughness group reduced their effort in the non-individually identifiable team condition.

CONCLUSIONS

The results confirm that (a) clearly identifying individual effort/performance is an important situational variable that may impact team performance and (b) higher perceived mental toughness has the ability to negate the tendency to loaf.

Perceived Social Loafing and Anticipated Effort Reduction among Young Football (Soccer) Players: An Achievement Goal Perspective

This study investigated the relationship between motivational climates, personal achievement goals, and three different aspects of social loafing in football (soccer). 170 male competitive football players completed questionnaires assessing perceived motivational climate, achievement goal, and measures of perceived social loafing (anticipation of lower effort amongst their teammates and themselves). The results indicated a marginal but significant positive relationship between an ego-oriented achievement goal and perceived social loafing. In addition, a mastery climate was negatively associated with perceived social loafing and anticipation of lower effort of team members, particularly for athletes who also strongly endorsed a task-oriented achievement goal. A performance climate, in contrast, related positively with these two aspects of social loafing. A mastery climate also related negatively to the third aspect of social loafing, i.e., players' readiness to reduce their own effort in response to their perception of social loafing among their teammates.

Team Cohesion and Individual Productivity

This study investigated the potential moderating effects of productivity norms and identifiability of effort on the cohesion-performance relationship in team sports. The design was a 2 (high cohesion, low cohesion)× 2 (high productivity norm, low productivity norm)× 2 (high identifiability of an individual’s effort, low identifiability of an individual’s effort) factorial. Each participant (n = 324) read one of eight scenarios, with cohesion, norms, and identifiability systematically rotated, and indicated the probability that the individual would train during the off-season. An ANOVA showed a main effect for cohesion, F( 1, 316) = 113.44, p < .0001, and norms, F( 1, 316) = 19.61, p < .0001), and an interaction between cohesion and norms, F( 1, 316) = 7.35, p = .007. The probability of off-season training was significantly higher for the high-cohesion-high-norms scenario than for the high-cohesion-low-norms scenario, with no differences under conditions of low cohesion. Directions for future research are discussed.