Cooperation in Groups: Procedural Justice, Social Identity, and Behavioral Engagement

This important book explores the psychological motives that shape the extent and nature of people's cooperative behavior in the groups, organizations and societies to which they belong. Individuals may choose to expend a great deal of effort on promoting the goals and functioning of the group, they may take a passive role, or they may engage in behaviors targeted towards harming the group and its goals. Such decisions have important implications for the group's functioning and viability, and the goal of this book is to understand the factors that influence these choices. In so doing, the authors bring together two literatures: the study of rule-following behavior and the study of helping behavior, and show how both types of cooperative behavior are rooted in people's views about the justice of group procedures. The authors argue that people focus on procedural fairness because they use information about the fairness of group procedures to understand both the status of the group and their status withinthe group. These status judgments are important to people because they shape their self definitions and feelings of self worth. By understanding the motivations which underlie willingness to cooperate we can better explain why it is that people value group membership, and what groups mean to individuals. Cooperation in Groupsbook will be essential reading for students and researchers of group behavior in both social and organizational psychology. Given its discussion of the powerful factors that can build higher levels of organizational citizenship behavior, enhance organizational commitment, and decrease rule breaking and other negative actions, it will also be important reading for all kinds of group leaders including managers, officials and policy makers.

Tom R. Tyler is Professor of Psychology at New York University. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the New York University School of Law.