• Theory

• External Shocks

• Network co-evolution

The role of personality traits in the formation of friendship and preference-for-collaboration networks among first-year students in higher education A bad barrel spoils a good apple: How uncertainty and networks affect whether matching rules can foster cooperation

Many tasks require individuals to form teams, and the composition of these teams is an important predictor of their success in achieving their tasks. Yet, few scholars have investigated the mechanisms driving the formation of self-organized teams. In a sample of 70 first-year university students, we study whether students form project teams with friends, familiar others, and similar others. We rely on the novel framework of Exponential Random Partition Models (ERPMs). Our results indicate that friends and same-gender students tend to join the same teams. Still, familiarity due to previous teamwork, academic achievement, and collaborative popularity do not drive team formation. Collaborative popularity pertains to whether other students perceive students as good collaborators. This study sheds light on the factors that drive self-organized team formation. Our approach applies to multiple contexts in which individuals self-organize in distinct teams.

This paper zooms in on three pieces of the group formation puzzle: in what way do 1) friendship relations, 2) familiarity, and 3) individual features affect the self-assembly of teams.

• External data
• -

• Questionaire
• Longitudinal survey

Yes

• Structured

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