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Sometimes people who are part of a group tend to put minimal effort into achieving their goals. This is called social loafing.
Compared to working individually, the efforts by individual members towards achieving a set goal are less since the efforts are being combined in a group.
It is one of the major factors responsible for less productivity of a group compared to all of the members’ productivity combined when working individually.

Background to the Term “Social Loafing”
Social loafing was first established by Max Ringelman, a French agricultural engineering professor, in the 1980s.
He was regarded as one of the individuals who founded social psychology. He differentiated and measured the intensity of the efforts put in by people by making individuals pull a rope in groups and separately.
He established through the results that people pulling a rope individually put in more effort than when they pulled the rope as a group.
Gender and Social Loafing
Latane, Gabrenya, and Wang discovered in 1985 that social loafing is different between women and men in both American and Chinese cultures. Men exhibited more social loafing than women across various cultures.
According to the authors, women are more associative, whereas men are more individualist, pertaining to their historical and genetic roles.
This is irrespective of the changes that take place in their social roles.
A study using methods similar to the rope pulling test by Max Ringelmann was conducted on social loafing propensities in Japan by Naoki Kughiara in 1999.
He found that men putting in lesser efforts while executing tasks was 40% more than women.

Causes of Social Loafing
Size of the Group
Since members of smaller groups think that their efforts are incredibly crucial, contribution tends to be more.
The effort by individual members decreases as the size of the group increases.
Dispersing Responsibility
The feeling of individualism reduces as the size of the group increases.
Deindividuation defines the detachment from personal achievement and the reduction in individual accountability.
It results in lesser effort put in by individual members working in a group.
Drive
According to social psychological literature, the amount of motivation an individual has to carry out a task affects the person's behavior when in a group.
Researchers have established two factors that ascertain an individual’s motivation and if the person will implement social facilitation or social loafing.
Expendability of Effort
The willingness of individuals to put in effort reduces when their effort in the entire group’s context is not warranted.
Due to various other contributions from other members of a large team, there is a possibility of members diminishing the worth of their contribution.
Avoidance | "Sucker" effect
Some team members may think that the credit for their effort in doing all the work will be taken by the social loafers.
Before putting in any effort, members assess the efforts of other group members. This is because nobody wants to be the 'sucker.'
Corresponding Effort; Equity and Attribution
An individual's efforts will reduce if the person feels like other members are not putting in much effort.
If members slacking off is evident, this can happen. A person merely thinking that the group is not putting in the effort can also lead to this.
Setting Submaximal goals
If a maximization based goal is established, a feeling of attaining a benchmarked level is invoked within the team members.
This may result in individuals not working hard enough to achieve the total desired outcome.

Effects of Social Loafing
Causes low Team Spirit
Reluctance and laziness among a few of the team members resulting in minimum contribution demoralizes and demotivates the entire team.
Depicts Negativity
Negativity is spread throughout the group due to the social loafers' eluding attitude. Productivity and performance of the team decreases due to this.
Hinders Development
Social loafing for an extended period hampers the company's growth.
Leads to Resources Wastage
Cost is a part of human resources. Employees become worthless to the company when they indulge in social loafing.
Demoralizes Team Members that work hard
Members of the team may be demotivated due to the sucker effect and free-riders effect. This is why even they think of it as a burden and reduce their efforts to carry out the task.

This video is on Social Loafing and it has the following sub-topics.

Time Stamps

0:00 Introduction to Social Loafing
0:15 Definition of Social Loafing
0:42 Background to the Term “Social Loafing”
1:09 Gender and Social Loafing
1:55 Causes of Social Loafing
3:48 Effects of Social Loafing
4:39 How to Prevent Social Loafing
5:18 How to Manage Social Loafing Through Motivation

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