Perception of Social Loafing, Conflict, and Emotion in the Process of Group Development
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PERCEPTION OF SOCIAL LOAFING, CONFLICT, AND EMOTION IN THE PROCESS OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY MIN ZHU IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DR. DEAN E. HEWES, ADVISER AUGUST, 2013 © Min Zhu 2013 i ABSTRACT This study was conducted for two purposes. The first was to find out trend patterns for perceived social loafing, the four types of intra-group conflict (i.e., task, relationship, logistic, and contribution), and positive vs. negative emotions, in the group’s developmental process. The second was to explain how perceived social loafing was aroused based upon the knowledge of intra-group conflicts and negative emotions. Participants (n = 164) were required to report their personal perception of social loafing, intra-group conflicts, emotions (i.e., anger, fatigue, vigor, confusion, tension, depression, and friendliness), and the stage of group development, in their current small group interaction. Four major findings emerged out of the data analysis. First, perceived social loafing, relationship conflict, logistical conflict, contribution conflict, and negative emotions all followed a reversed V-shaped trend of development with their respective peaks observed at Stage 2 (i.e., Counterdependency and Fight), whereas task conflict followed a slanted, N-shaped, but relatively stable, trend over the course of group development. Second, positive emotions developed in a V-shaped trend pattern, wherein the lowest point was observed at Stage 2 and highest point at Stage 4 (i.e., Work). Third, the perception of social loafing was found to be directly and positively influenced by contribution conflict and negative emotions, while task conflict, logistical conflict, and relationship conflict did not have direct positive effects on perceived social loafing. However, task conflict was found to have a marginally significant direct suppressing effect upon perceived social loafing once the influences from logistic conflict, contribution conflict, relationship conflict and negative emotions were controlled for. Fourth, the current study also found that the perception of social loafing might not always trigger negative emotions in the group, because social compensation might offset the negative consequences that perceived social loafing was likely to bring to the group. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………...…v LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………ix CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION…………………………….…….…………………1 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………..7 Social Loafing………………………………………………….…..……….……11 Conflict and Emotion in Groups..………………………………………..………21 Conflict types in groups……………………………….……………..…….23 Emotional displays during conflict………………………………..….……25 Group Development…………………………………………………....….....…..29 Perception of Social Loafing in Group Development….…………….…………..33 Conflict, Emotion, and Perceived Social Loafing ……………...……………….44 Conflict and Emotion in Group Development………………...…………………51 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS………………………………………..………………63 Participants………………………………………………………….……………63 Procedures………………………………………………………..………………64 Measures…………………………………………………………………………69 Neuroticism…………………………………..………………………….…69 Perceived social loafing………………………………….……...…………73 Conflict types……………………………………………...……….………79 Group development…………………………………………………..…….86 Group emotions…………………………………………………….……..105 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS……………………………………………..…………..111 Dysfunctional Stage vs. Stage of Counterdependency and Fight …………...…111 iii Nonindependence……………………………………...……………………..…115 Descriptive Analysis of Perceived Social Loafing, Conflict, and Emotions in Small Group Development……………..…………………...…120 Perception of Social Loafing at each Stage of Group Development…………...123 Explaining Perceived Social Loafing from Negative Emotions and Intra-group Conflicts…………………………………..………………….…135 Emotions and Intra-group Conflicts at each Stage of Group Development……147 Additional Exploration of the Relationship between Perceived Social Loafing, Intra-group Conflicts, and Negative Emotions…………………….168 The direction of influence between relationship conflict and contribution conflict……………………………………………………….……..169 Task conflict in predicting perceived social loafing………………..…….171 Logistical conflict in predicting perceived social loafing………………...177 Proposing a model that predicts perceived social loafing based upon all intra-group conflicts and negative emotions…………...…..……….184 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION……………………………………..………………..196 Perceived Social Loafing, Intra-group Conflicts, and Emotions at each Stage of Small Group Development………………………………..….199 Stage 1 (Dependency and Inclusion)………………………………….….201 Stage 2 (Counterdependency and Fight)…………………………………205 Stage 3 (Trust and Structure).…………………………………………....208 Stage 4 (Work)…………………………………………...……………….213 Trend of Social Loafing, Intra-group Conflicts, and Emotions in Small Group Development…………………………………………….……218 iv Understanding the Relationship among Perceived Social Loafing, Conflict, and Negative Emotions ……………………………………..…….222 Investigating the effects of task conflict on perceived social loafing…….224 Investigating the conflict triggering process………………………….…..228 Investigating the relationship between negative emotions and perceived social loafing…………………………………………………….….233 Connecting the Two Perspectives: Developmental vs. Instrumental…………...238 Limitations and Future Research………………………………...………….….247 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….….….252 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………257 APPENDIX A: Consent Statement……………………………………………….…….290 APPENDIX B: Survey Questionnaire………………………………………........….…293 APPENDIX C: IRB Approval Letter………………………………………………...…300 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1. The Frequency of Groups, Sex, Age, and Ethnicity on Course Section..………65 Table 2. The Correlation Matrix of the 8 items of Neuroticism ……………………...…72 Table 3. Factor Loadings for Exploratory Factor Analysis of Neuroticism………….….72 Table 4. Correlations of Neuroticism with Conflict, Emotion, and Social Loafing……..73 Table 5. Factor Loadings for Exploratory Factor Analysis of Social Loafing…………..75 Table 6. The Correlation Matrix of the 11 items of Social Loafing…………………......78 Table 7. Factor Loadings for Exploratory Factor Analysis of Social Loafing – 11 items……………………………………………………78 Table 8. Correlations of Social Loafing with Neuroticism, Conflict, and Emotion……..79 Table 9. Factor Loadings in the Factor Pattern Matrix for Group Conflict Types………85 Table 10. The Correlations of the Four Conflict Types………………………………….86 Table 11. Correlations of Conflict with Neuroticism, Emotion and Social Loafing….....86 Table 12. Factor Loadings for Exploratory Factor Analysis of GDS 1………….………90 Table 13. Factor Loadings for Exploratory Factor Analysis of GDS 2………….………92 Table 14. Factor Loadings for Exploratory Factor Analysis of GDS 3……………….…94 Table 15. Factor Loadings for Exploratory Factor Analysis of GDS 4………………….95 Table 16. Comparison of the Cronbach’s Alphas, Scale Mean, and Scale SD between the Current Instrument (GDS) and GDQ by Wheelan and Hochberger’s (1996)…………………………………………………………………………97 Table 17. The Means of GDS Scores in Each of the Four Successive Periods of Group Development………………………………………………………………….99 Table 18. Exploratory Factor Analysis on the Items from the Four GDSs……………..100 Table 19. Correlations of the Four Sub-Scales………………………………………....101 vi Table 20. Correlations of GDS with Neuroticism, Conflict, Emotion and Social Loafing………………………………………………………………..……..102 Table 21. GDQ vs. GDS Scoring System for Determining Stages of Group Development…………………………………………………………..…….104 Table 22. Additional Norms in GDS Scoring System for Determining Stages of Group Development……………………………………………………………..….104 Table 23. Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations of the Scales in POMS-SF…110 Table 24. Comparing Social Loafing, Conflict, and Emotions between Stage 2 and Dysfunctional Stage…………………………………………………….…...115 Table 25. Intraclass Correlation Coefficients of Social Loafing, Four Types of Conflict and Positive vs. Negative Emotions…………………………………………119 Table 26. Means and Standard Deviations of Social Loafing, Four Types of Conflict and Positive vs. Negative Emotions over the Course of Group Development..…………………………………………………………….…120 Table 27. Frequency, Mean, and Standard Deviation of Social Loafing on each Stage of Group Development with Chi Square Test and T-Test………………...……127 Table 28. Pair-wise Comparisons with Tukey HSD Correction and Effect Sizes of Perceived Social Loafing by Stage of Group Development……………..….134 Table 29. Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations of the Variables in the Path Analysis……………………………………………………….……………..138 Table 30. Unstandardized Path Coefficients, Standard Errors, and t-Values for General Theoretical Model…………………………………………..…………….…140 Table 31. Fit indices of the Full Path Model and the Revised Model……………...…..141 Table 32. Unstandardized Path Coefficients, Standard Errors, and t-Values for Revised Model…………………………………………………….……..142 vii Table 33. Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis Predicting Perceived Social Loafing from Task Conflict, Negative Emotions and the Interaction between Task Conflict and Negative Emotions……………………………………….……143 Table 34. Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis Predicting Perceived Social Loafing from Logistic Conflict, Negative Emotions and the Interaction between Logistic Conflict and Negative Emotions…………………………………...144 Table 35.