Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/223643 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13201
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We analyze how the team formation process influences the ability composition and performance of teams, showing how self-selection and random assignment affect team performance for different tasks in two natural field experiments. We identify the collaboration intensity of the task as the key driver of the effect of self-selection on team performance. We find that when the task requires low collaborative efforts, the team performance of self-selected teams is significantly inferior to that of randomly assigned teams. When the task involves more collaborative efforts, self-selected teams tend to outperform randomly assigned teams. We observe assortative matching in self-selected teams, with subjects more likely to match with those of similar ability and the same gender.
Subjects: 
team performance
self-selection
field experiment
education
JEL: 
I21
M54
C93
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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