Gender and social loafing in Japan

The author investigated gender differences in social leafing among 18 men and 18 women in Japan. The participants were divided into groups of 9 members. Ropes were connected to strongly built steel frames set near the ceiling of the laboratory. Each participant had to pull the rope as through arm wrestling. The participants engaged in 12 trials-2 individual trials and 10 group trials. In the group trials, the participants believed that only the group's power, but not individual participants' power, was being gauged. The difference between the data from individual trials and the data from group trials was adopted as a measure of social leafing. The women tended to loaf less than the men, and the men's effort suddenly declined when the situation was changed from an individual to a collective work setting. However, the women did not show that change. The author interpreted the findings from the viewpoint of gender difference in the quality of achievement motivation among Japanese participants.