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American Economic Review Vol. 100 No. 4 2010

Efficiency Gains from Team-Based Coordination—Large-Scale Experimental Evidence

Francesco Feri1; Bernd Irlenbusch2; Matthias Sutter3

1 Department of Public Finance, University of Innsbruck, Universitaetsstrasse 15, A–6020 Innsbruck, Austria. · 2 Department of Management, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom, and University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, D–50923 Cologne and IZA Bonn, Schaumburg Lippe Strasse 5–9, D–53113 Bonn, Germany. · 3 Department of Public Finance, University of Innsbruck, Universitaetsstrasse 15, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria, and Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Vasagatan 1, 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden, and IZA Bonn, Schaumburg Lippe Strasse 5-9, D-53113 Bonn, Germany.

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Abstract

The need for efficient coordination is ubiquitous in organizations and industries. The literature on the determinants of efficient coordination has focused on individual decision making so far. In reality, however, teams often have to coordinate with other teams. We present a series of coordination experiments with a total of 1,101 participants. We find that teams of three subjects each coordinate much more efficiently than individuals. This finding adds one important cornerstone to the recent literature on the conditions for successful coordination. We explain the differences between individuals and teams using the experience weighted attraction learning model.

DOI
10.1257/aer.100.4.1892
Volume
100
Issue
4
Pages
1892-1912
Language
en
Sources
openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref

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