Help – I need somebody? Comparing Groups’ and Individuals’ Search Behavior Across Problem Complexity

TY - GEN

T1 - Help – I need somebody? Comparing Groups’ and Individuals’ Search Behavior Across Problem Complexity

AU - Pedersen, Mads Kock

AU - Vuculescu, Oana

AU - Sherson, Jacob

AU - Bergenholtz, Carsten

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, Academy of Management. All rights reserved.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Comparing the search behavior of individuals and groups has so far yielded conflicting results, both finding that groups are more exploitative as well as more explorative than individuals. Such divergent findings could be related to the search processes of groups, both entailing the opportunity to imitate the behavior of others yet also allowing a diversity of approaches to unfold since particular designs of group interaction could shape the dynamics of search in groups. In order to further investigate this organizational search design challenge, we set out to compare the search dynamics of individuals compared to groups that were driven by a common incentive-based goal. In an online experiment, we compared the search behavior and performance of 253 individuals and 253 groups (N = 1265) across simple and complex landscapes. We find that groups in both kinds of landscapes initially explore more than individuals and then exploit more than individuals at the end of the search process. Groups outperform individuals on both simple and complex landscapes as a switch from exploration to exploitation is a favorable strategy. We contribute to the organizational search literature by highlighting how the difference in search behavior and performance of individuals vs. groups is driven by the role of heterogeneous search behaviors in groups driven by a common goal.

AB - Comparing the search behavior of individuals and groups has so far yielded conflicting results, both finding that groups are more exploitative as well as more explorative than individuals. Such divergent findings could be related to the search processes of groups, both entailing the opportunity to imitate the behavior of others yet also allowing a diversity of approaches to unfold since particular designs of group interaction could shape the dynamics of search in groups. In order to further investigate this organizational search design challenge, we set out to compare the search dynamics of individuals compared to groups that were driven by a common incentive-based goal. In an online experiment, we compared the search behavior and performance of 253 individuals and 253 groups (N = 1265) across simple and complex landscapes. We find that groups in both kinds of landscapes initially explore more than individuals and then exploit more than individuals at the end of the search process. Groups outperform individuals on both simple and complex landscapes as a switch from exploration to exploitation is a favorable strategy. We contribute to the organizational search literature by highlighting how the difference in search behavior and performance of individuals vs. groups is driven by the role of heterogeneous search behaviors in groups driven by a common goal.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85190459895&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.5465/AMPROC.2023.191bp

DO - 10.5465/AMPROC.2023.191bp

M3 - Conference article

AN - SCOPUS:85190459895

SN - 0065-0668

VL - 2023

JO - Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings

JF - Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings

IS - 1

T2 - 83rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2023

Y2 - 4 August 2023 through 8 August 2023

ER -