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The Strength of Weak Leaders - An Experiment on Social Influence and Social Learning in Teams

Author

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  • Büchel, Berno
  • Klößner, Stefan
  • Lochmüller, Martin
  • Rauhut, Heiko

Abstract

We investigate how the selection process of a leader affects team performance with respect to social learning. We use a lab experiment in which an incentivized guessing task is repeated in a star network with the leader at the center. Leader selection is either based on competence, on self-confidence, or made at random. Teams with random leaders do not underperform compared to competent leaders, and they even outperform teams whose leader is selected based on self-confidence. The reason is that random leaders are better able to use the knowledge within the team. We can show that it is the declaration of the selection procedure which makes non-random leaders overly influential. We set up a horse race between several rational and naïve models of social learning to investigate the micro-level mechanisms. We find that overconfidence and conservatism contribute to the fact that overly influential leaders mislead their team.

Suggested Citation

  • Büchel, Berno & Klößner, Stefan & Lochmüller, Martin & Rauhut, Heiko, "undated". "The Strength of Weak Leaders - An Experiment on Social Influence and Social Learning in Teams," ETA: Economic Theory and Applications 268729, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:feemth:268729
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.268729
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Tang, Ming & Liao, Huchang, 2024. "Group efficiency and individual fairness tradeoff in making wise decisions," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    3. Vincenz Frey & Arnout van de Rijt, 2021. "Social Influence Undermines the Wisdom of the Crowd in Sequential Decision Making," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(7), pages 4273-4286, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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