ASYMMETRICAL EFFECTS OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS - THE CASE OF SOCIAL LEAFING

An assumption in the social loafing literature is that contingent rewa rds and contingent punishments have symmetrical effects on the reducti on of social leafing in groups. Literature is reviewed from several ar eas of psychology and organizational behaviour which suggests that rew ards and punishments do not have symmetrical effects on individuals an d their behaviours. Based upon this review, hypotheses are developed c oncerning the relationship between supervisor reward and punishment be haviour and social loafing in groups. These hypotheses were tested amo ng a sample of 448 salespeople working in groups ranging in size from four to 10 members. As hypothesized, supervisor contingent reward was negatively associated, and supervisor non-contingent punishment was po sitively associated with social leafing in ongoing groups. Also as exp ected, neither supervisor contingent punishment nor non-contingent rew ard was significantly associated with social leafing. The implications oi these results and directions for future research are discussed.