Diffusion of Responsibility for Actions With Advice

Abstract

Diffusion of responsibility is typically defined as the effect by which people feel less responsible for outcomes of their actions when they act as a member of a group than when they act individually. The research reported here extends the concept of diffusion of responsibility to contexts in which the actor has received advice. Responsibility when using advice and when acting contrary to advice are compared to each other, as well as to responsibility when acting alone or as part of a group. To provide a more complete picture, this research consolidates disparate concepts from previous work on diffusion of responsibility, including felt, judged, and anticipated responsibility assessments; distributive and case-based models of responsibility; and positive and negative outcomes. Across three experiments, using advice conveyed less responsibility than either acting alone or acting contrary to advice, with greater use of advice further reducing responsibility. The magnitude of diffusion was influenced by the task outcome valence in ways consistent with self-serving bias when acting alone and other-serving bias when using advice. Diffusion was greater with distributive than case-based responsibility models. The results were generally consistent across felt, judged, and anticipated responsibility, as well as with choice and judgment tasks. Implications and future research possibilities are discussed.