BUSINESS RESEARCH

PROJECT

Consequences of Peer Pressure at Workplace

Date of Submission: 7th November, 2023

Submitted By
Ankit Agrawal
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Table Of Content

SNO Topic Page Numbers

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1 Background 4

2 Aim of the study 4

3 Hypotheses 4

4 Methodology 6

5 Research design 6

6 Sample 6

7 Measurement and Instrumentation 7

8 Data collection 13

9 Proposed Analysis 13

10 Anticipated Findings 13

11 Ethical Considerations 14

Background
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On the basis of the Literature review done on peer pressure, it was highlighted that human

beings face peer pressure in all phases of life, as they grow old the way to deal with peer

pressure changes. Some people might get motivated to work better and improve their

performance hence becoming proactive or they might feel stressed about the pressure and

might work unwillingly to not lag behind. Peer pressure is faced the most when people are

working together, therefore the purpose of our research is to diagnose the consequences of

peer pressure at the workplace.

Aim of the Study

 To study the factors that drive peer pressure in workplaces in India.

 To find the consequences peer pressure on employee performance.

Hypotheses Explained:

H1. Peer Pressure significantly impacts Employee Performance.

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Explanation: A person working in a group is bound to face peer pressure and this will affect

the performance of the employee.

H2. Stress mediates the relationship between Peer Pressure and Employee Performance

Explanation: A person working in a group or team, under peer pressure, is bound to face

stress if the colleagues are working better than them and the stress will impact the

performance of the employee as the person will either be motivated or pressured to work

better in order to level up their performance.

H3. Proactivity mediates the relationship between Peer Pressure and Employee

Performance.

Explanation: A person working in a group or team, under peer pressure, might feel

motivated by the performance of the other team members or if the other team members are

lagging behind might take a lead to more proactive leading to improvement in the

performance of the employee

H4. Knowledge Spillover significantly moderates the relationship between Peer Pressure

and Employee Performance.

Explanation: A person working in a team observes the methods, habits, and techniques of

the other members of the group, and if they admire them, they try to learn from them and

copy their methods. This accounts for knowledge spillover and may affect the performance of

the learner in a positive way.

Methodology
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To collect data, we have used surveys and interviews. We floated our survey form on portals

such as LinkedIn, which helped us get responses from a targeted audience. We also

approached potential candidates on LinkedIn in order to get their interviews.

Research Design

For the purpose of data collection in our research, we have used two methods. We have used

surveys for the quantitative data and conducted interviews for the qualitative data. The survey

gave us the opportunity to design a questionnaire that had 8 initial questions intended to

gather some numeric data on the respondents. Then, there were 15 questions that dealt with

the peer pressure our respondents have/have not experienced in their workplace. All the

questions had options. This way, we were able to get answers to a large number of questions

from many respondents in quick time with minimal resources. We also conducted interviews

so that we could get in-depth answers to some questions that were crucial for our research.

Sample

The sampling method we have adopted for our data collection tools is Purposive Sampling.

Our respondents are corporate employees across offices in India who work in teams and are

more likely to experience peer pressure since they work in a competitive environment. We

have received a total of 102 responses for our survey, against a target of 100 responses. For

the interviews, we have met the targeted number of 5 responses and, in fact, been able to

conduct a few more.

The gender ratio of men and women who participated in our survey and interviews is close to

1:1. Further, roughly 45% of the respondents work from the office, 21% work from home,

and 34% work in a hybrid setting. Furthermore, about three-fourths of the respondents have

been working in their current company for 0-3 years.

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Reasons behind choosing them as respondents: Upon our preliminary research into past

studies related to peer pressure at workplace, we found no prior studies done in context of

India. The corporate space is a significant part of the Indian economy and employs millions

of people. The corporate world is fiercely competitive, and there is pronounced scope for

performance management, appraisals, dismissals, incentives, etc. All these factors solidify the

presence of peer pressure as well as the importance of employee productivity. This has been

our motivation for focusing this research on corporate employees in India.

Measures and Instrumentation

Data collection tool:

Survey

 A set of 15 questions exploring consequences of peer pressure at workplace

 102 responses from people employed in the corporate sector in India

 Used a 4-point Likert scale for the majority of the questions to avoid neutral answers

 A few questions were dichotomous too.

Questionnaire

What is peer pressure?

Have you felt guilty that your colleagues are performing better than you?

Does it make you want to do better or just give up?

That is peer pressure!

Job Title-

Gender-
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o Male

o Female

o Not prefer to disclose

Number of years at the Current company?

o 0-3

o 4-6

o 7 -10

o more than 10

Mode of work?

o Work from office

o Hybrid mode

o Work from home

Level of Position

o Entry Level

o Junior Level

o Senior Level

o Manager

o Higher than Manager

Size of your team

o 0-5

o 6-10

o more than 10
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1. How many hours do you spend working with your team on a normal work day?

o Less than 2 hours

o 2-3 hours

o 3-4 hours

o 4-5 hours

o More than 5 hours

2. Do you feel that peer pressure motivates employees to perform better at work?

o Strongly agree

o Agree

o Disagree

o Strongly disagree

3. Have you ever felt peer pressure at work in a negative way (made you feel stressed about

your performance)

 Yes

 No

4. Do you think that employees make poor decisions at work under the influence of peer

pressure?

o Strongly agree

o Agree

o Disagree

o Strongly disagree
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5. Do you feel that peer pressure has a negative impact on employee morale and productivity?

o Strongly agree

o Agree

o Disagree

o Strongly disagree

6 If your team members are performing better than you, does that increase your performance

too?

o Yes

o No

7. Do you feel that peer pressure helps employees acquire new skills and knowledge?

o Strongly agree

o Agree

o Disagree

o Strongly disagree

8.If your team members are performing better than you, does that decrease your

performance?

o Yes

o No

9. Does peer pressure motivate employees to perform better at work?

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o Strongly agree

o Agree

o Disagree

o Strongly disagree

10. Does peer pressure affect an employee’s job satisfaction?

o Strongly agree

o Agree

o Disagree

o Strongly disagree

11.Does peer pressure make an employee feel motivated at work?

o Strongly agree

o Agree

o Disagree

o Strongly disagree

12. Have you ever felt peer pressure at work in a positive way?

o Yes

o No

13. What impact does peer pressure have on an employee’s absenteeism at work?
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o Positive (Absenteeism reduces)

o Negative (Absenteeism increases)

o None

14. Does peer pressure make an employee feel stressed at work?

o Strongly agree

o Agree

o Disagree

o Strongly disagree

15. Can peer pressure at work make an employee feel proactive?

o Strongly agree

o Agree

o Disagree

o Strongly disagree

Interviews:

We took interviews of the 6 candidates having a range of work experience in the corporate

field to gain a point of view and detailed experience of the candidates. Questions asked were

based on the hypothesis and was focused on what candidates felt under peer pressure and

how it affected their overall performance.

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Data Collection

Data collection process: We formulated a set of 15 questions, based on the hypothesis used,

to ask our candidates, we made a google form with the questions as mentioned in the survey

section and requested candidates working in corporates to fill the form, On the basis of the

responses we got, we took interviews from candidates to get a subjective point of view.

 Actual data collection: Please find attached below the data collected

Proposed Analysis

 The data collected has various parameters in nominal, ordinal and continuous

structure such as gender, team size, level of position, mode of work, etc.

 We will run statistical tests on this set of data, to understand the underlying patterns

and trends

Anticipated Findings and Implications

 People working under peer pressure face stress at work and how it affects their

performances is based on how they perceive this pressure, some might be motivated

to do the work and others might abscond the work too.

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 People working under peer pressure also get the opportunity to learn from the peers

by either copying or observing the methods that their peers use.

 Our research findings help the managers to analyse if peer pressure is actually helpful

in the work environment and to what extent should the peer pressure as a tool to

enhance the performance must be used.

Ethical Human Subjects Considerations

 We have taken responses from people working in corporate after taking permissions

from them.

 All the recordings taken are with permission of the candidate.