Work-in-progress: Reducing social loafing in information technology undergraduate group projects

Abstract

Project-based learning plays a major role in undergraduate education. In Information Technology education, almost all the undergraduate degree programs include group projects starting from the first year onwards. The main objective of these projects is to give students hands-on experience of the theories they have learnt so far, as well as to improve their soft skills required for teamwork, meeting deadlines, leadership and many more. Moreover, projects may help students to improve their critical thinking abilities, face challenges confidently and come up with creative solutions when there is group involvement. Though there are many advantages in group learning, social loafing or simply free riding turns out to be the major problem in this type of group-based projects. Some students in group projects put in less effort into the work than when they work alone. They try to survive in the group and then take the credit for someone else’s work. This scenario tends to de-motivate the hard working members and also create group conflicts. Ultimately, this problem of social loafing affects the group performance and the final outcome of the project may not be as successful as expected. Therefore, finding effective mechanisms for reducing social loafing in group projects is becoming a critical need. The existing research on this topic mainly covers marketing and other fields, but not the field of Information Technology. Hence, this research is focused on reducing social loafing among Information Technology undergraduates.