What is Free Riding?

If you have been assigned to work in groups, then you must have faced with people that just
will not put in the same amount of effort into the work as you or other group members.
These people are colloquially called free riders and what they are doing is free riding. This
problem is especially prominent in university where there is an abundance of group
assignments as compared to high school where most work was assigned individually. This
article will give further examples to better clarify what free riding is and the history behind
its discovery.
Other examples of free riding can be observed in other situations outside the academic
bubble such as when a member of a board meeting barely talks or contributes ideas when
the others are. Free riding is not only limited to the workplace or school. This effect explains
why some people choose not to vote; or why you clap softly when in an audience
(Schneider, 2016).
First off, let’s get to know who first noticed the behaviour of free riding. You might assume
that the man behind the discovery of a widely studied social phenomenon is a psychologist
or a sociologist. However, that assumption is incorrect as someone from a wholly different
field of research discovered free riding, that is agricultural engineering. That’s right, a French
agricultural engineer named Max Ringelmann discovered free riding by conducting an
experiment where individual people were to pull on a rope. Then, he had them pull on the
rope with a group. He found that the same individuals had put in less effort when in a group
(Simms & Nichols, 2014).
This phenomenon is now professionally called the “Ringelmann Effect”, or more colloquially
called free riding and social loafing. It is when the productivity of a group decreases once its
members increase beyond a certain margin. The free riding member usually exerts less effort
once he thinks that others can do the work for him, thus decreasing productivity. A big group
usually means less personal responsibility. This means a big group makes it difficult for its
member’s individual work to be accounted for (Simms & Nichols, 2014).
Further studies were conducted after Ringelmann’s time in order to understand the
circumstances in which free riding is present. In 1977, it was discovered by Petty, Harkins,
Williams, and Latane that free riding is just as present in cognitive tasks as it is in physical
tasks. The study was done by having students edit a poem individually and in groups. The
study failed to consider, however, whether having rewards and feedback would help prevent
social loafing as no rewards were offered to the study’s participants (Simms & Nichols,
2014).
Two years later in 1979, three of the same researchers, Latane, Williams, and Harkins,
replicated their previous study with cheering and clapping. The study showed that the
decreased productivity was not simply because of coordination problems or how difficult the
task was. The long-term negative effects of social loafing on individuals, social institutions,
and societies led them to label free riding as “a kind of social disease” (Simms & Nichols,
2014).
References:
Kravitz D. A., Martin B. (1986). Ringelmann Rediscovered: The Original Article.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Schneider T. V. (2016). The psychological theory that explains why you’re better off
working solo. Quartz. Retrieved from https://qz.com/848267/the-ringelmann-effect-
productivity-increases-when-youre-working-solo-rather-than-on-a-team
Simms A., Nichols T. (2014). Social Loafing: A Review of the Literature. Journal of
Management Policy and Practice.