IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v23y2012i2p402-415.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Psyched Up or Psyched Out? The Influence of Coactor Status on Individual Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Francis J. Flynn

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305)

  • Emily T. Amanatullah

    (McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712)

Abstract

We propose that performing an independent task alongside a coactor who is an outstanding performer will improve a focal actor's performance. In three studies that ranged from laboratory participants solving anagrams and playing video games to professional golfers competing in the Masters Tournament, performance improved more in the presence of a high-performing coactor than in the presence of a weak-performing coactor. However, when people were asked to compete directly with a strong performer, their own performance declined. In sum, when faced with the anxiety of performing alongside a high-status coactor, independent coaction led people to become “psyched up,” whereas direct competition led them to become “psyched out.”

Suggested Citation

  • Francis J. Flynn & Emily T. Amanatullah, 2012. "Psyched Up or Psyched Out? The Influence of Coactor Status on Individual Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 402-415, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:23:y:2012:i:2:p:402-415
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1100.0552
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0552
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.1100.0552?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer A. Chatman & Francis J. Flynn, 2005. "Full-Cycle Micro-Organizational Behavior Research," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 434-447, August.
    2. Lount Jr., Robert B. & Phillips, Katherine W., 2007. "Working harder with the out-group: The impact of social category diversity on motivation gains," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 214-224, July.
    3. Jonathan Guryan & Kory Kroft & Matthew J. Notowidigdo, 2009. "Peer Effects in the Workplace: Evidence from Random Groupings in Professional Golf Tournaments," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 34-68, October.
    4. Nancy B. Kurland & Terri D. Egan, 1999. "Telecommuting: Justice and Control in the Virtual Organization," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(4), pages 500-513, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ya-Ru Chen & Randall S. Peterson & Damon J. Phillips & Joel M. Podolny & Cecilia L. Ridgeway, 2012. "Introduction to the Special Issue: Bringing Status to the Table—Attaining, Maintaining, and Experiencing Status in Organizations and Markets," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 299-307, April.
    2. Philipp Wegelin & Johannes Orlowski & Helmut M. Dietl, 2022. "The importance of high performing team members in complex team work: Results from quasi‐experiments in professional team sports," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1296-1310, July.
    3. Dai, Hengchen, 2018. "A double-edged sword: How and why resetting performance metrics affects motivation and performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 12-29.
    4. Bauman, Christopher W. & Tost, Leigh Plunkett & Ong, Madeline, 2016. "Blame the shepherd not the sheep: Imitating higher-ranking transgressors mitigates punishment for unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 123-141.
    5. Chen, Jing & Hong, Junjie & Zhong, Weifeng & Wang, Chengqi & Liu, Xinghe, 2024. "Doing right at home: Do hometown CEOs curb corporate misconduct?11Chengqi Wang acknowledges the financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72332005). Xinghe Liu acknowledge," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giacomo De Giorgi & Michele Pellizzari & William Gui Woolston, 2012. "Class Size And Class Heterogeneity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 795-830, August.
    2. Anne Ardila Brenøe & Ulf Zölitz, 2020. "Exposure to More Female Peers Widens the Gender Gap in STEM Participation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(4), pages 1009-1054.
    3. Steven N. Durlauf & Yannis M. Ioannides, 2010. "Social Interactions," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 451-478, September.
    4. Bernd Frick & Anica Rose, 2017. "Over the top: Team composition and performance in Himalayan expeditions," Working Papers Dissertations 24, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    5. Richardson, J.T., 2015. "Accountability incentives and academic achievement: Distributional impacts of accountability when standards are set low," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-16.
    6. Massimo Anelli & Giovanni Peri, 2019. "The Effects of High School Peers’ Gender on College Major, College Performance and Income," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(618), pages 553-602.
    7. James Farrell, 2019. "Peer Effects Among Teachers: A Study of Retirement Investments," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 486-497, September.
    8. Jones, Todd R. & Kofoed, Michael S., 2020. "Do peers influence occupational preferences? Evidence from randomly-assigned peer groups at West Point," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    9. Deirdre Donovan & Dr Angela Wright, 2013. "Teleworking: An Examination of the Irish Dichotomy," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 3(3), pages 18-31, March.
    10. Julie Beugnot & Bernard Fortin & Guy Lacroix & Marie Claire Villeval, 2013. "Social Networks and Peer Effects at Work," Cahiers de recherche 1320, CIRPEE.
    11. Beugnot, Julie & Fortin, Bernard & Lacroix, Guy & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2019. "Gender and peer effects on performance in social networks," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 207-224.
    12. Jonas Radbruch & Amelie Schiprowski, 2020. "Interview Sequences and the Formation of Subjective Assessments," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 045, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    13. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Nathaniel Hilger & Emmanuel Saez & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Danny Yagan, 2011. "How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence from Project Star," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1593-1660.
    14. Baldwin, Kate & Bhavnani, Rikhil R., 2013. "Ancillary Experiments: Opportunities and Challenges," WIDER Working Paper Series 024, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Feld, Jan & Zölitz, Ulf, 2022. "The effect of higher-achieving peers on major choices and labor market outcomes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 200-219.
    16. Balasubramaniam Ramesh & Kannan Mohan & Lan Cao, 2012. "Ambidexterity in Agile Distributed Development: An Empirical Investigation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 323-339, June.
    17. Seetharam Sridhar, Kala & Sridhar, Varadharajan, 2003. "The Effect of Telecommuting on Suburbanization: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 33(1), pages 1-25.
    18. Giacomo De Giorgi & Anders Frederiksen & Luigi Pistaferri, 2020. "Consumption Network Effects," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(1), pages 130-163.
    19. Lasse Brune & Eric Chyn & Jason Kerwin, 2022. "Peers and Motivation at Work: Evidence from a Firm Experiment in Malawi," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(4), pages 1147-1177.
    20. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2013. "Under Pressure? The Effect of Peers on Outcomes of Young Adults," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 119-153.

    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:inm:ororsc:v:23:y:2012:i:2:p:402-415. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.