How teams adapt to exogenous shocks: Experimental evidence with node knockouts of central members

Researchers have found that although external attacks, exogenous shocks, and node knockouts can disrupt networked systems, they rarely lead to the system’s collapse. Although these processes are widely understood, most studies of how exogenous shocks affect networks rely on simulated or observational data. Thus, little is known about how groups of real individuals respond to external attacks. In this article, we employ an experimental design in which exogenous shocks, in the form of the unexpected removal of a teammate, are imposed on small teams of people who know each other. This allows us to causally identify the removed individual’s contribution to the team structure, the effect that an individual had on those they were connected, and the effect of the node knockout on the team. At the team level, we find that node knockouts decrease overall internal team communication. At the individual level, we find that node knockouts cause the remaining influential players to become more influential, while the remaining peripheral players become more isolated within their team. In addition, we also find that node knockouts may have a nominal influence on team performance. These findings shed light on how teams respond and adapt to node knockouts.