IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v665y2025ics0378437125001487.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Group size matters: Synergistic effects and reduced inequality in performance rankings

Author

Listed:
  • Reia, Sandro M.
  • Pfoser, Dieter
  • Campos, Paulo R.A.

Abstract

Contemporary society often employs ranking systems to evaluate and reward individual performances based on meritocratic principles. However, these systems can have unintended consequences, impacting creativity and equality. This study presents a statistical analysis of a ranking performance model to examine the implications of these systems on social dynamics. Using a simulation approach, we explore the role of imitation in determining individuals’ success and how these dynamics influence overall group productivity and inequality. Our results unveil a synergistic effect of increasing group size and enhancing collective output while reducing individual performance inequality. Additionally, we investigate the social dynamics on random graphs, scale-free, and small-world networks to understand the influence of network topology, showing that connectivity within the group significantly influences both performance and inequality. Our results also demonstrate that high clustering combined with short path lengths reduces inequalities. These findings provide insights into optimizing ranking systems to balance merit-based recognition with the need for innovation and equality, suggesting strategies to enhance group synergy.

Suggested Citation

  • Reia, Sandro M. & Pfoser, Dieter & Campos, Paulo R.A., 2025. "Group size matters: Synergistic effects and reduced inequality in performance rankings," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 665(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:665:y:2025:i:c:s0378437125001487
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2025.130496
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437125001487
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2025.130496?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:665:y:2025:i:c:s0378437125001487. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.