Doctoral Dissertation Research:Sources of Legitimation and the Formation and Flexibility of Group Routines

社会心理学家认为，个人通过与他人的互动创造了社会结构，而这些结构反过来又塑造、约束或使未来的互动成为可能。然而，出现的群体结构和决策的性质取决于群体合法性的来源。例如，群体合法性可能来自外部，来自更大的组织，也可能来自内部，来自自己的信仰体系。本项目考察了不同的合法性来源如何使群体在决策中或多或少地具有等级性，并在日常互动中或多或少地具有灵活性。为了解决这些问题，它使用实验方法，将受试者聚集在一起，在一个小组项目中进行互动。自变量是研究者的授权（即外部合法性）或团队的认可（即内部合法性）。因变量是团队在被要求完成的两种不同类型任务中对常规的遵守程度，以及在团队互动中出现的可观察到的权力和声望模式。在评估合法性理论的同时，研究结果为关注实施团队或群体决策结构的组织提供了有价值的信息。

Social psychologists argue that individuals create social structures through interaction with others, and that these structures in turn serve to shape, constrain, or enable future interaction. However, the nature of the kinds of group structures and decision-making that emerge depend on the sources of group legitimation. For example, group legitimacy may come externally from the larger organization, or it may come internally from its own beliefs systems. This project examines how different sources of legitimation make groups more or less hierarchical in their decision-making, and more or less flexible in their routine interactions. To address these questions, it uses experimental methods involving subjects brought together to interact in a group project. The independent variable is authorization by the researcher (i.e., external legitimation) or endorsement by the group (i.e., internal legitimation). The dependent variables are the group's adherence to routines over two different types of tasks it is asked to complete, and the patterns of observable power and prestige that emerge in the groups' interactions. Along with evaluating theories of legitimation, the results provide valuable information for organizations concerned with implementing team or group decision-making structures.