團體凝聚力對決策嵌陷的影響

The Effect of Group Cohesion on the Decision Entrapment

林書伃(Shu-Yu Lin)

指導教授 ： 李玉惠

中原大學/理學院/心理學研究所/碩士(2003年)

https://doi.org/10.6840/cycu200300758

摘要

決策嵌陷是指決策者面對先前資源（如金錢、時間、精力）分配的負向回饋，且不確定目標是否能達成的情境下，卻仍然執著於先前的選擇，而繼續投入資源。在決策嵌陷的領域中，已做過了許多個人方面的研究，關於團體方面的研究卻很少。但在各種組織中，多以團體的方式進行決策，因此我們有必要更深入的瞭解在嵌陷情境中，團體決策的風貌與其機制。
過去的文獻指出，不論在個人或在團體決策中，都有決策嵌陷的現象發生，但比較個人與團體嵌陷傾向的西方研究結果並不太一致，所以本研究的目的一為探討造成此不一致結果的可能因素；目的二是進一步確定此可能因素（責任和團體凝聚力）對決策嵌陷的影響，希望能進一步確定團體嵌陷的傾向是否較個人決策時大，並找出在決策嵌陷情境中，較佳的決策團體型態。此外，西方的嵌陷研究都指出責任會影響嵌陷的程度，但少數做到華人樣本的個人層面研究並未發現這樣的現象，因此，本研究的目的三想探求在華人社會中，責任對個人與團體決策嵌陷的影響到底為何？
筆者預期在高責任時，高凝聚力團體的嵌陷行為應最大，其次是低凝聚力團體，而低凝聚力團體的嵌陷行為應會等於個人組（假設1a）。在低責任時，高、低凝聚力團體與個人的嵌陷行為應會相等（假設1b）。筆者對責任的預期則是延續西方嵌陷研究，主張在華人社會中，責任會對嵌陷行為造成影響，且不論在高、低凝聚力團體組與個人組中，高責任情境下的嵌陷行為會大於低責任情境下的嵌陷行為（假設2a～2c）。
本研究採用一個3 （決策單位：高凝聚力團體組、低凝聚力團體組、個人組） × 2 （責任：高責任、低責任）的受試者間實驗設計。本研究的受試者為大學生，共有275人參加，其中男性156人，女性119人。實驗以角色扮演的方式進行。依變項為嵌陷量，嵌陷量是指獲得先前決策的負向回饋時，還願意再投資的金額量。團體組皆為相同性別的三人為一組。
實驗結果如下：決策單位在高責任時的結果為高凝聚力團體的嵌陷量最大，低凝聚力團體的嵌陷量次之，且低凝聚力團體的嵌陷量等於個人組，假設1a獲得支持。決策單位在低責任時的結果為高、低凝聚力團體組與個人組的嵌陷量相當，支持假設1b。責任部分的結果為不論高、低凝聚力團體組與個人組，其在高、低責任情境下的嵌陷量都相同，不支持假設2a~2c。但因團體組的責任操弄並不理想，因此對假設2a和2b的實驗結果持較保守的態度，即對責任不影響華人團體的嵌陷行為之結果持保留的態度，但個人組的責任操弄成功，因此，華人個體的嵌陷行為不受責任影響，即高、低責任下，華人個體的嵌陷行為是相同的，這部分的結果是可以採信。
本研究的假設1a和1b獲得支持，可以說明以往西方學者比較團體和個體嵌陷行為研究結果之不一致，是因為責任與各研究中的團體其團體凝聚力不同所導致。此外，本研究結果支持在高責任時，高凝聚力團體的嵌陷行為較低凝聚力團體嚴重，這些都將會在討論中做詳細的論述。但是本研究責任部分的結果並不支持假設二，這與西方研究指出責任高、低會影響個體與團體的嵌陷行為之結果不一致，影響的原因在討論中會有進一步的探討。

關鍵字

團體凝聚力 ； 決策嵌陷 ； 責任

並列摘要

Decision entrapment refers to the phenomenon that decision makers continuously support a course of action by spending more resources (in terms of money, time, or effort) despite of failing evidences. Literature review on the topic of decision entrapment shows that many studies have been done on the individual level but few on the group level. However, group decisions play important roles in all kinds of organizations. Thus, more attention should be paid to decision entrapment within group decision-making.
Previous researchers have shown that the phenomenon of decision entrapment happens in both individual and group decision-making. Some researchers even compare the tendency of entrapment between individual and group decision-making. However, results from these studies are inconsistent. The main purposes of the present study are to find out possible reasons for such inconsistency and to further examine the effect of these factors (responsibility and group cohesion) on decision entrapment. In addition, western researchers have consistently found responsibility effect on decision entrapment at the individual and the group levels. Nevertheless, two studies employing Chinese as subjects failed to replicate such a result at the individual level. Therefore, the third aim of the present study is to investigate the role of responsibility in decision entrapment in both individual and group decision-making in the Chinese society.
Two hypotheses were proposed in the present study. Hypothesis 1 addresses the effect of decision unit. Hypothesis 1a states that, with high responsibility, entrapping behaviors will be largest in the high cohesive group, followed by the low cohesive group. And entrapping behaviors will be approximately the same for the low cohesive condition and the individual condition. Hypothesis 1b claims that, with low responsibility, entrapping behaviors will be identical for all three decision units. Hypothesis 2 addresses the responsibility effect. It predicts that, regardless of the decision unit, responsibility will affect entrapping behaviors in the Chinese society as in the western society. Specifically, entrapping behaviors will be more serious with high responsibility than with low responsibility.
An experiment with a 3 (decision unit: high cohesive group/low cohesive group/individual) x 2 (responsibility: high responsibility/low responsibility) between-subjects design was conducted. Participants in this study were 275 undergraduate students, 156 males and 119 females. The subject made a decision, either at the individual level or at the group level, on the investment amount when provided with a negative feedback for the previous decision. Each group was composed of three students with the same gender.
The main results of the present study are as follows:
1.With high responsibility, the high cohesive
group shows the most serious entrapping
behaviors. And entrapping behaviors are at the
same level for the low cohesive groups and
individuals.
2.With low responsibility, entrapping behaviors
are identical for the high cohesive groups, the
low cohesive groups, and individuals.
3.For the Chinese subjects, no responsibility
effect exists in any of the decision unit.
Because Hypotheses 1a and 1b are fully supported in the present study, previous inconsistent results on the tendency of the group’s and individual’s entrapping behaviors in western studies can be attributed to different responsibility levels and different degrees of group cohesion. In addition, the results of this study also support that, with high responsibility, the entrapping behaviors of a high cohesive group are more serious than a low cohesive group. The implications of these findings will be further discussed. Results relating to Hypothesis 2 are different from those of the western studies. Some possible reasons for no responsibility effect in the Chinese society will be discussed further.

並列關鍵字

group cohesion ； decision entrapment ； responsibility

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