Cognitive distance, absorptive capacity and group rationality: a simulation study

Petru Lucian Curşeu; Oleh Krehel; Joep H M Evers; Adrian Muntean

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0109359

Cognitive distance, absorptive capacity and group rationality: a simulation study

PLoS One. 2014 Oct 14;9(10):e109359. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109359. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Petru Lucian Curşeu¹, Oleh Krehel², Joep H M Evers³, Adrian Muntean³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Organisation Studies, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Cognitrom, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
² Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Mathematics and Computer Science & Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Abstract

We report the results of a simulation study in which we explore the joint effect of group absorptive capacity (as the average individual rationality of the group members) and cognitive distance (as the distance between the most rational group member and the rest of the group) on the emergence of collective rationality in groups. We start from empirical results reported in the literature on group rationality as collective group level competence and use data on real-life groups of four and five to validate a mathematical model. We then use this mathematical model to predict group level scores from a variety of possible group configurations (varying both in cognitive distance and average individual rationality). Our results show that both group competence and cognitive distance are necessary conditions for emergent group rationality. Group configurations, in which the groups become more rational than the most rational group member, are groups scoring low on cognitive distance and scoring high on absorptive capacity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological
Cognition*
Humans
Models, Theoretical*

Grants and funding

Oleh Krehel gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the European Union through the Initial Training Network Fronts and Interfaces in Science and Technology of the Seventh Framework Programme (grant agreement number 238702). Joep H. M. Evers gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), Graduate Programme 2010. Petru Lucian Curşeu was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0482. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Cognitrom provided support in the form of salary for author Petru Lucian Curşeu during his sabbatical, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.