THE EFFECTS OF PERCEIVED LOAFING AND DEFENSIVE IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON GROUP EFFECTIVENESS

The influence of defensive impression management and perceived leafing on group effectiveness was investigated for 49 groups of 204 undergra duate business students working for 3 months on a team interdependent task. The interaction between perceived leafing and defensive impressi on management was also tested Results demonstrated that both independe nt variables were negatively correlated with satisfaction with group m embers and group performance. In addition, the perceived loafing by de fensive impression management interaction explained significant increm ental variance in satisfaction with group members and group performanc e as predicted Groups with high levels of perceived loafing had a nega tive relationship between defensive impression management and group ef fectiveness, whereas groups with low levels of perceived loafing had a positive relationship. Implications for managers and future research issues are discussed.