Group Formation and Commitment in Multi-Person Productive Exchange

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This is an experimental study of group formation in multi-person productive exchange. It extends the theory of relational cohesion, which was developed in studies of two-person exchange, involving three or more people and incorporating the uncertainty-reduction effects of repetitive exchange. The theoretical argument is that when three or more people negotiate jointly-beneficial collaborative efforts and do so repeatedly, individuals sense a cohesive group above and beyond person-to-person ties, and this cognitive or psychological group formation produces greater commitment to the group. This group formation process takes place ostensibly because frequent exchange among the same people produces positive feelings and reduces uncertainty about each other. Multi-person exchange makes the group a unifying force, because subtle "two against one" pressures are likely to constrain opportunism or malfeasance and make negotiations more routine over time. %%% The theory will be tested in an experimental setting in which three people can negotiate a joint venture that provides payoffs to each that they cannot produce alone or in dyadic transactions. Each person's profit is contingent on the group, and the group effort requires the assent of each person. This is a form of productive exchange, where the joint good produced is divisible, and each person has an incentive to claim as much of this good as possible. The project calls for two experiments, manipulating the average dependence of the individuals on the group (person-to-person dependence) and whether there is a difference between individuals' dependence on the group (equality or inequality of person-to-group dependence). The major theoretical propositions are that greater average (total) dependence on the group and more equal person-to-group dependencies produce more negotiated agreements which then unleash an endogenous group-formation process. Positive emotions and reduced uncertainty are key moments in this endogenous process, because these should enhance perceptions of group cohesion which, in turn, generate commitment behavior. %%% Each experiment examines a different form of commitment behavior. The first examines symbolic (token) gift giving among members. Stronger commitment is indicated by greater propensities for all members of the group to give token gifts to all others. The second experiment examines whether members will contribute to a new joint venture in which each has an incentive for opportunism or malfeasance. In sum, the theory predicts that certain power-dependence conditions will affect, indirectly rather than directly, the degree that members give each other gifts and the degree that they trust each other enough to contribute in an N-person social dilemma. %%% This project has broader implications for collaborative efforts of multiple entities, whether these are individuals, groups, organizations, or societies. Under favorable relative and mutual dependencies, people exchange repeatedly, come to define themselves as a group, ascribe value to the group itself, and become more inclined to do things for the group and its members. The commitment process involves movement from instrumental toward expressive person-to-group relations. One result is an incipient normative order manifest in mutual expectations of cooperation. Overall, this project suggests a fundamental way that small-scale social order comes about and is maintained in multi-person exchanges.