Free Riding in Group Projects and the Effects of Timing, Frequency, and Specificity of Criteria in Peer Assessments

Abstract The free-rider problem, also known as social loafing, occurs when one or more members of a group do not do their fair share of the work on a group project. In this article, the authors present a group evaluation instrument characterized by early implementation, multiple evaluation points, and the use of specific evaluative criteria. They tested their assessment method on a sample of 330 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory, crossdisciplinary business course. The results suggest that the use of this instrument can mitigate free-rider problems and improve students' perceptions about groups and group projects.