Team production in a field experiment: study of aggregative vs. individual cultural activities

This study aims to determine whether team production among peer groups culturally aggregated can affect the individual student performance in an Italian university. Two further hypotheses were tested in order to verify whether students perform better in team than individually and if students culturally aggregated in team perform better than students differently aggregated. By means of a field experiment, 162 students were involved in the study. The participants had the opportunity to sit a new examination model after responding to a self-reported questionnaire. The new model contemplated that the students performed in team for the first part of the program and carried out the remaining part of examination individually. The groups were composed of individuals linked by homogeneous preferences about cultural activities. The results show that team performance affects positively the final score of exam and the students culturally aggregated pass the exam more than students not culturally aggregated. The aggregative cultural activities influenced the test score more than individual effort or other personal characteristics. We therefore recommend the implementation of a new examination models based on cooperation among students supporting the aggregative cultural activities where sharing action prevails as predictors.