social loafing

n. Social loafing refers to a group phenomenon in which individuals are less motivated and exert less effort when working collectively than when working coactively (side by side, but independently) or individually. Collective efforts are those in which individuals pool their contributions to form a single group product. Working collectively reduces motivation because the individual contributions are relatively unidentifiable, are likely to be redundant with others' contributions, and are perceived to be insufficiently connected to the final outcome. Social loafing is likely to be greater with larger, less cohesive groups who work on uninteresting tasks. Social loafing has been documented worldwide but is reduced in collectivistic cultures, for females, and for groups that are highly cohesive. Working harder collectively – social compensation – occurs when working on an important group task that reflects on the self and when there is doubt that the others will contribute adequately. Then, individuals are more motivated and work harder collectively than coactively. – KDW