Research Interests:
Systems of Voluntary Contributions, Online Communities, Social Influence, Robust Decision-Making
Systems of Voluntary Contributions, Online Communities, Social Influence, Robust Decision-Making
At its core, my research revolves around a longstanding, fundamental question in the social sciences: How do we keep individuals contributing to collective resources in the face of strong self-interests? From ancient civilizations to modern day firms managing remote employees, this question is at the heart of understanding how we as humans successfully organize ourselves. Due to the fundamental nature of this question, research that seeks to outline the mechanisms that lead people to cooperate in the face of self-interests occurs across disciplines, with key work found in evolutionary biology, economics, sociology, and psychology. Unfortunately, most of this work remains in these disciplinary silos, each with its own assumptions, emphasis on different levels of analysis, and preferred methods. As a result, we know less about how mechanisms for maintaining contributions fair over time within actual organizations.
My primary body of work explores assumptions, boundary conditions, and implications of this cross-disciplinary set of research in two key ways: First, I deliberately layer in theoretical and contextual features of organizations (e.g., comparative performance pressures due to formal evaluations, turnover, and superordinate goals) to explore how to sustain systems of voluntary contributions in actual organizations, and in particular organizations that feature smart working elements, geographically distributed workforces, and voluntary or temporary workforces. Second, I utilize a social systems lens that emphasizes links between levels of analysis. Instead of isolated contributions, I examine systems of contributions—bounded sets of individuals within which contributions are linked over time through ongoing, regular interactions. I aim to show how processes at one level (e.g., sabotaging a competitor’s contributions to get ahead in a performance ranking) affect processes at another level (e.g., the ability of an organization to inspire high quality contributions). By leveraging multilevel analyses of systems of contributions, my research uncovers the situational and transformative mechanisms that determine when and why identical organizational policies designed to maintain contributions (e.g., reputation rankings that reward contributions) may elicit different system-level outcomes such as heightened performance or a system’s collapse.
Dissertation
Title: Robust Systems of Cooperation
Dissertation Committee: Wayne Baker, Maxim Sytch, Jim Walsh, Jerry Davis, and Scott Page
Publications and Working Papers
Chambers, C.R., and Baker, W.E. (2020). Robust Systems of Cooperation in the Presence of Rankings: How displaying prosocial contributions can offset the disruptive effects of performance rankings. Organization Science, 31(2), 287-307
Chambers, C.R. Examining the Use of a Reputation System to Maintain a Norm of Cooperation
(Revise & Resubmit, Organization Science)
Chambers, C.R., Aceves, P. and Alves, M. How Insufficient Recognition Shapes the Rate and Scope of Contributions to the Knowledge Commons
(Under Review at Organization Science)
Aceves, P., Chambers, C.R, and Alves, M. Middle-Status Myopia (Under Review at Management Science)
Chambers, C.R., Sytch, M., and Aceves, P. Forever Following the Crowd: When a Decrease in Uncertainty Amplifies Social Influence
(2nd Round of Data Collection for Supplementary Analyses)
Chambers, C.R. and Baker, W.E. Lay Down the Law or Let it Go: Examining the Role of Tolerance in Maintaining Systems of Cooperation (Drafting Manuscript)
Audia, P., and Chambers, C.R. Status Friction & Network Tie Formation (Data Analysis)
Grohsjean, T., Chambers, C.R., Alves, M.F.R., and Aceves, P. When Others Help Me Find My Way: Conceptual Antecedents to Individual Problem Solving
(Data Analysis)
Chambers, C.R. and Kaplan, S. Gamification Programs and Social Impact (Data Collection)
Chambers, C.R. The Effects of Radical Transparency on Middle-Status Conformity (Ideation)
My primary body of work explores assumptions, boundary conditions, and implications of this cross-disciplinary set of research in two key ways: First, I deliberately layer in theoretical and contextual features of organizations (e.g., comparative performance pressures due to formal evaluations, turnover, and superordinate goals) to explore how to sustain systems of voluntary contributions in actual organizations, and in particular organizations that feature smart working elements, geographically distributed workforces, and voluntary or temporary workforces. Second, I utilize a social systems lens that emphasizes links between levels of analysis. Instead of isolated contributions, I examine systems of contributions—bounded sets of individuals within which contributions are linked over time through ongoing, regular interactions. I aim to show how processes at one level (e.g., sabotaging a competitor’s contributions to get ahead in a performance ranking) affect processes at another level (e.g., the ability of an organization to inspire high quality contributions). By leveraging multilevel analyses of systems of contributions, my research uncovers the situational and transformative mechanisms that determine when and why identical organizational policies designed to maintain contributions (e.g., reputation rankings that reward contributions) may elicit different system-level outcomes such as heightened performance or a system’s collapse.
Dissertation
Title: Robust Systems of Cooperation
Dissertation Committee: Wayne Baker, Maxim Sytch, Jim Walsh, Jerry Davis, and Scott Page
Publications and Working Papers
Chambers, C.R., and Baker, W.E. (2020). Robust Systems of Cooperation in the Presence of Rankings: How displaying prosocial contributions can offset the disruptive effects of performance rankings. Organization Science, 31(2), 287-307
Chambers, C.R. Examining the Use of a Reputation System to Maintain a Norm of Cooperation
(Revise & Resubmit, Organization Science)
Chambers, C.R., Aceves, P. and Alves, M. How Insufficient Recognition Shapes the Rate and Scope of Contributions to the Knowledge Commons
(Under Review at Organization Science)
Aceves, P., Chambers, C.R, and Alves, M. Middle-Status Myopia (Under Review at Management Science)
Chambers, C.R., Sytch, M., and Aceves, P. Forever Following the Crowd: When a Decrease in Uncertainty Amplifies Social Influence
(2nd Round of Data Collection for Supplementary Analyses)
Chambers, C.R. and Baker, W.E. Lay Down the Law or Let it Go: Examining the Role of Tolerance in Maintaining Systems of Cooperation (Drafting Manuscript)
Audia, P., and Chambers, C.R. Status Friction & Network Tie Formation (Data Analysis)
Grohsjean, T., Chambers, C.R., Alves, M.F.R., and Aceves, P. When Others Help Me Find My Way: Conceptual Antecedents to Individual Problem Solving
(Data Analysis)
Chambers, C.R. and Kaplan, S. Gamification Programs and Social Impact (Data Collection)
Chambers, C.R. The Effects of Radical Transparency on Middle-Status Conformity (Ideation)