American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Efficiency Gains from Team-Based Coordination—Large-Scale Experimental Evidence
American Economic Review
vol. 100,
no. 4, September 2010
(pp. 1892–1912)
Abstract
The need for efficient coordination is ubiquitous in organizations and industries. The literature on the determinants of efficient coordination has focused on individual decision making so far. In reality, however, teams often have to coordinate with other teams. We present a series of coordination experiments with a total of 1,101 participants. We find that teams of three subjects each coordinate much more efficiently than individuals. This finding adds one important cornerstone to the recent literature on the conditions for successful coordination. We explain the differences between individuals and teams using the experience weighted attraction learning model. (JEL C71, C91, D23, D83, M54 )Citation
Feri, Francesco, Bernd Irlenbusch, and Matthias Sutter. 2010. "Efficiency Gains from Team-Based Coordination—Large-Scale Experimental Evidence." American Economic Review, 100 (4): 1892–1912. DOI: 10.1257/aer.100.4.1892Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C71 Cooperative Games
- C91 Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
- D23 Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief
- M54 Personnel Economics: Labor Management