Do Friends Perform Better?: A Meta-Analytic Review of Friendship and Group Task Performance

Abstract

In the current paper, I develop and test a theoretical model aimed at understanding the relationship between friendship and group performance. Specifically, using data from 924 teams in 24 studies, I tested my hypothesized main effect, and key moderator analyses, for how working with friends, versus non-friends, would influence group task performance. Results show that friendship has a positive effect on group task performance (d=0.45). Furthermore, as expected this effect was moderated by task interdependence and task focus/emphasis (i.e. maximizing versus optimizing). In addition to detailing which paths of the model were supported by the data, in my discussion section I detail gaps in the literature and future directions for research in this domain.

Evaluating the Relationship between Team Performance and Joint Attention with Longitudinal Multivariate Mixed Models

“…We did not expect the lack of influence of friendship on performance or joint attention, as prior work has demonstrated that friendship can facilitate performance in decision-making and motor tasks (e.g., Shah & Jehn, 1993). However, a recent meta-analytic review of the effect of friendship on team performance indicates that the positive relationship is mediated by the degree of task interdependence (Chung, 2015). This reinforces our interpretation that role differentiation played a key part in the development of team performance over time.…”