top of page

People follow high-performing leaders in small groups

While the "wisdom of the crowd" shapes the behavior of large groups of people, less is known about small-group dynamics and how individuals interact to make decisions, particularly when it comes to the emergence of leaders, a key area of inquiry in organizational research. The phenomenon is critical to arriving at an understanding of social networks of all kinds.



Individuals used social information more and more over time, and the more accurate the information, the more influence it had over participants' choices. Therefore, the relationship between participants' performance and their social influence was reinforced over time, resulting in the emergence of group leaders.


Where a large crowd would adopt a simple majority rule, with an increase in the accuracy of performance over repeated interactions, individuals rely more on social than personal information and as a consequence, good performers would emerge as group leaders, exerting a stronger influence on others over time.



Comments


Post: Blog2_Post
bottom of page