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You Can't Put Old Wine In New Bottles: The Effect Of Newcomers On Coordination In Groups, Matthew Mccarter, Roman M. Sheremeta

Business Faculty Articles and Research

A common finding in social sciences is that member change hinders group functioning and performance. However, questions remain as to why member change negatively affects group performance and what are some ways to alleviate the negative effects of member change on performance? To answer these questions we conduct an experiment in which we investigate the effect of newcomers on a group's ability to coordinate efficiently. Participants play a coordination game in a four-person group for the first part of the experiment, and then two members of the group are replaced with new participants, and the newly formed group plays the …