ROLE SCHEMATA AND MEMBER MOTIVATION IN TASK GROUPS

It was conjectured that occupying the minimal leader role (i. e., havi ng the title of group leader without having any of the attendant legit imacy, power, authority, or formal responsibility) might trigger a lea der role schema that prescribes greater responsibility for group perfo rmance. In an experimental study, the effects of occupying such a mini mal leader role and its complementary, minimal nonleader role on three distinct group motivation losses were explored. Occupying the minimal leader role did not, as conjectured, attenuate these motivation losse s. However, occupying the minimal nonleader role did affect task motiv ation. The clearest such effect was an accentuation of the typical soc ial loafing effect by subjects when someone else in the group had been selected as a group leader