Journal of Management Award for professor Van der Vegt and Van de Vliert

The Journal of Management (JOM) awarded the papers which were the most highly cited in 2005 (JOM chose 2005 to allow time for the top papers to emerge). The paper "Effects of perceived skill dissimilarity and task interdependence on helping in work teams" by FEB professor Gerben van der Vegt and professor emeritus Evert van de Vliert is one of the five winners.

The papers were chosen based on the Social Science Citation Index. The winners receive a plaque celebrating the achievement and contribution to the Journal of Management.

Van der Vegt's and Van de Vliert's study examined the effects of perceived skill dissimilarity and task interdependence on individual team members’ helping behavior in a panel study of senior business students enrolled in a management game. The students were randomly assigned to 20 teams and functioned as a firm’s top management group during a full-time 3-week period. Questionnaire data were collected after the 1st and 2nd week. Consistent with self-categorization theory, the analyses showed perceived skill dissimilarity to decrease both self-reported and peer-rated helping behavior under conditions of low task interdependence and to increase an individual’s helping behavior under conditions of high task interdependence.