Where Social Loafers Lie: A Study of How Filipino Values Influence Employee Behavior in Work Groups

Abstract

The study aimed to explore how Filipino values influence responses to perceptions of co-worker loafing in cognitive work groups. The study also aimed to identify the indicators of co-worker loafing perceptions, individual motivations to go about the task in spite of co-worker loafing perceptions and characteristics of individual’s change in behavior when loafing perceptions exist. To measure the employees’ degree of co-worker loafing, 25 online survey questionnaires were sent out to the employees of Company X. Only respondents who scored in the extremes were considered in the study. In-depth and semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with seven employees of Company X wherein the data gathered from the interviews were analyzed through a thematic analysis under the Expectancy Violations Framework. It was found in the study that regardless of the degree of perceptions of co-worker loafing, the respondents had the same expectancies that members of the team will deliver as a result of their commitment to the client and the company. It was also found that perceptions of co-worker loafing was contextualized in the study in the form of individuals perceptions that some members are contributing substandard ideas, are consciously killing teammates idea suggestions and are passively accepting ideas of other members of the team. Moreover, individuals are motivated to continue with the task in spite of their perceptions as they give value to the collective reward of maintaining the company’s good image and individual reward of having their work recognized. Responses under behavioral change comprise of actions to show initiative in finishing the task, to avoid conflict and to encourage co-workers to contribute to the task. Responses under communicative behavior, on the other hand, were found to be characterized by the direct and indirect approach that are aimed to help out, to reorient, to encourage and to empathize with their co-workers whom they perceive are engaging in loafing behaviors.