Social loafing is the tendency for people in work groups to exert less effort than if they worked individually. Mulvey, Bowes-Sperry, and Klein (1998) found that the presence of a social loafer in a real-life work group was related to lower group satisfaction and lower group productivity. The present study conceptually replicates this research, but experimentally manipulates loafing in a simulated task and measures individual satisfaction and individual productivity. Participants (N = 51) were randomly assigned to work groups with a hardworking or a "loafing" team member. As was predicted, individual satisfaction was lower in groups with a loafer. Contrary to predictions, however, individual productivity did not differ across conditions.

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