Journal of Applied Psychology 1991, Vol. 76, No. 4, 578-586 Copyright 1991 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0021-9010/91/S3.00 Familiarity and Group Productivity Paul S. Goodman Graduate School of Industrial Administration Carnegie Mellon University Dennis Patrick Leyden University of North Carolina at Greensboro The effects of familiarity on group productivity were examined. Familiarity refers to the specific knowledge workers have of their jobs, co-workers, and work environment. In this study of coal-min- ing crews, absenteeism led to staffing changes that affected the level of familiarity in the work group. Data from 26 crews in two underground coal mines indicate that lower levels of familiarity are associated with lower productivity. The effects of familiarity on group productivity were exam- ined in this study of coal-mining crews. Absenteeism led to short-term changes in these crews, which affected the levels of crew familiarity. Familiarity refers to the knowledge group members have about specific job, crew, and work-environment configurations. Declines in levels of familiarity were hypothe- sized to be associated with declines in productivity. This study extends prior research (Goodman & Garber, 1988) showing that familiarity affects the rate of accidents. Though based on a similar theoretical framework, the present study involves different analytical procedures and a different data set. Empirical Literature Several different literatures point to the relevance of familiar- ity as a determinant of productivity. The literature on the conse- quences of absenteeism (cf. Goodman, 1984) provides some clues. The basic argument is that absenteeism affects staffing replacement policies, which change levels of familiarity within the work group. Katz, Kochan, and Weber (1982) and Katz, Kochan, and Gobeille (1982) used plant-wide data to provide some evidence that higher absenteeism is associated with lower labor effi- ciency. Moch and Fitzgibbons (1982) reported that absenteeism of more central employees (for example, maintenance person- nel) had negative effects on production and that less automated production was more vulnerable to the negative effects of ab- senteeism. These analyses were conducted at the firm level; our analysis was conducted at the group level. Studies in which seniority, job experience, and performance were examined also bear on our concept of familiarity as a determinant of productivity. The argument is that greater levels of seniority or experience are associated with greater familiarity and performance. Studies at the group level by Katz (1982) and by Banker, Datar, and Kemerer (1987), for example, have Support for this research was provided by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, Contract J0328033. We would like to thank Dennis Epple for his contribution to this article. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Paul S. Goodman, Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213. shown that lower seniority is associated with lower perfor- mance. Some studies at the individual level have shown that seniority, when coupled with the similarity of prior jobs (a possi- ble indicator of familiarity), is also related to performance (cf. Gordon & Fitzgibbons, 1982). Schmidt, Hunter, and Outer- bridge (1986) reported that the length of job experience directly affects job knowledge (a possible indicator of familiarity), which in turn affects measures of job performance. We propose that the relationship between seniority and performance may be due to familiarity. (Although seniority was measured in years in these studies, our focus was on daily variation of familiarity on performance.) Finally, studies of managerial succession indirectly support the concept of familiarity as a determinant of productivity. For example, Allen, Panian, and Lotz (1979) reported that midsea- son succession of a manager in sports teams seemed more disruptive than end-of-season succession, and outside succes- sion appeared to be more disruptive than inside succession. Succession between seasons allows more opportunities for man- agers to become familiar with the players and the environment and hence should be less disruptive. The inside successor is probably more familiar with the team personnel, strategies, and environment than an outside successor. These studies provide some indirect support for the concept of familiarity. We now turn to a more detailed examination. Theoretical Relationships Familiarity Familiarity is the principal theoretical construct in our inves- tigation. Every workplace is a unique configuration of machin- ery, physical environment, people, performance strategies, and jobs. Familiarity refers to the specific knowledge a person has about these aspects of work. We use the word specific to focus attention on the unique aspects of the work place. In continuous coal-mining technology, a general configura- tion of machinery, environment, people, performance strate- gies, and jobs is common to all mining sections. However, within each section or work area, unique configurations can also be found. Although the sections often have the same gen- eral type of continuous mining machine or bolting machine, each machine is unique because of variations in manufacturing 578