A new measure of perceived interdependence: Factor structure and validity

To measure perceived interdependence, we designed a scale that explicitly measures how individuals’ feelings and outcomes covary with the outcomes of specific partners (e.g., “When [target] succeeds, I feel good.”, “[target] and I rise and fall together”). This new scale relies on the concept of fitness interdependence, i.e., the degree to which two or more organisms influence each other’s success in replicating their genes. Based on two studies of MTurk participants (N1 = 198, N2 = 216), we confirm that the scale has good overall reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.81 to 0.91; McDonald’s omega = 0.89 to 0.96) as well as an underlying two-factor structure distinguishing the perceived outcome interdependence with the target and the emotional affect towards a target’s outcomes. Our scale also predicted participants’ willingness to help interdependent others. Studies 3 and 4 (N3 = 695, N4 = 629) document the validity and reliability of the scale with additional measures in new samples. The results from these studies demonstrate that the perceived interdependence scale has good discriminant, convergent, and concurrent validity as well as test-retest reliability across a 14 day period. Taken together, our results suggest that perceived interdependence offers a useful framework for future work on cooperation and social behavior. However, there are still many open questions about the cognitive architecture underlying perceptions of interdependence and how perceived interdependence interacts with genetic relatedness.

The impact of interdependence on behavioral engagement in online communities

PurposeOnline communities are increasingly important for organizations and marketers. However, the issue of how structural features of online communities affect consumers' behavioral engagement remains relatively unexplored. The purpose of this study is to examine how and why different types of interdependence within online communities (i.e. task/outcome interdependence) influence individual engagement in group activities, thereby providing insights regarding online community design.Design/methodology/approachTwo surveys were conducted with two online groups in China. One is a task-interdependent group from Douban Forum, and the other is an outcome-interdependent group from Sina Forum. A total of 159 valid responses from the task-interdependent group and 162 valid responses from the outcome-interdependent group were received. We analyzed the data using multivariate regression with Smart PLS and SPSS.FindingsThe results reveal that both task and outcome interdependence are positively related to individual behavioral engagement in online group behavior, and collective efficacy mediates the aforementioned effects. In addition, task complexity moderates the relationship between task interdependence and individual behavioral engagement; communication within group moderates the relationship between outcome interdependence and behavioral engagement, and the effect is mediated by collective efficacy.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the role of an important factor of group structure, namely, interdependence, in fueling individual behavioral engagement in online communities. The results shed light on companies' design strategies to develop and retain online community members and also provide important insights for researchers interested in social network marketing.

Spatial interdependence and instrumental variable models

Instrumental variable (IV) methods are widely used to address endogeneity concerns. Yet, a specific kind of endogeneity – spatial interdependence – is regularly ignored. We show that ignoring spatial interdependence in the outcome results in asymptotically biased estimates even when instruments are randomly assigned. The extent of this bias increases when the instrument is also spatially clustered, as is the case for many widely used instruments: rainfall, natural disasters, economic shocks, and regionally- or globally-weighted averages. Because the biases due to spatial interdependence and predictor endogeneity can offset, addressing only one can increase the bias relative to ordinary least squares. We demonstrate the extent of these biases both analytically and via Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, we discuss a general estimation strategy – S-2SLS – that accounts for both outcome interdependence and predictor endogeneity, thereby recovering consistent estimates of predictor effects.

INVESTIGATING THE SYNERGISTIC AND ANTAGONISTIC IMPACTS OF OUTCOME INTERDEPENDENCE, SHARED VISION AND TEAM REFLEXIVITY ON INNOVATION IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Reflexivity, the extent to which teams reflect upon and modify their functioning, is widely considered a key factor for engendering team innovation. In this study, we propose that reflexivity is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for team innovation. Outcome interdependence, defined as the extent to which team members perceive that attainment of goals by their colleagues will facilitate their own goal achievement, and shared team vision, will moderate the effect of team reflexivity on team innovation. An empirical study with 332 team members of 34 software projects reveals that as predicted high outcome interdependence and shared team vision magnified the positive impacts of team reflexivity on team innovation. However, an increase in team reflexivity at low outcome interdependence and shared team vision had a negative impact on team innovation. Further, in general, agile software teams consistently demonstrated higher outcome interdependence and team reflexivity and thereby higher team innovation compared to teams adopting plan-driven methods of software development.