Conjunctive and additive group work reduce academic procrastination: insights from a vignette study

Group work can increase individual effort, performance, and positive affect, if group members perceive their own contribution as indispensable for the group product. A vignette methodology was applied to investigate whether group work may also reduce procrastination. The vignettes described a typical academic assignment, while varying the task structure (individual work vs. conjunctive group work vs. additive group work) and group member ability (high vs. low). For each vignette, student participants (N = 443) provided ratings on their perceived indispensability, procrastination of the assignment, and affect. When group member ability was high, procrastination was lower in additive group work as compared to individual work. When group member ability was low, procrastination was lower in conjunctive group work as compared to both individual work and additive group work. As predicted, perceived indispensability mediated the difference in procrastination between conjunctive and additive group work. Moderation analyses further revealed that the effects were more pronounced for high trait procrastinators. Further, both types of group work led to increases in task-related positive affect as compared to individual work. By demonstrating the relevance of group work as a social factor, the results should be useful for the extension of existing programs targeting procrastination, and may inspire measures for preventing procrastination by changes in the study environment.