We study how individuals' contribution to a team production task varies depending on whether the task is ego relevant or not.
We design and conduct an experiment to test the effect of ego-relevance when the team output depends on the top- and the bottom-performer of the group.
Ego-relevance is manipulated by calling the Raven IQ Test an “IQ Task” or a “Pattern Task”.
We find that the contribution, which corresponds to an contribution of intended effort in the task, is affected by ego-relevance and the team production function.
However, both effects are mediated by the expected teammate's contribution.
Ego-relevance increases the responsiveness to the expected teammate's behavior, a behavior that is also more noticeable when the team output depends on the bottom-performer.
Nevertheless, we do not observe crossed-effects between ego-relevance and the team production function.