Complex decision-making in organizations is a process frequently assigned to teams. An expected benefit of utilizing teams is that, due to an expanded pool of available information, outcomes may be superior to those of an individual decision-maker. However, research using the Hidden-Profile Paradigm (i.e., a research design where each team member has information that must be shared to arrive at an accurate solution) has consistently shown that team members regularly fail to exploit their unique information to produce accurate decisions. This failure may be due to a combination of social, individual, and contextual factors, information processing inaccuracies, and cognitive biases. The current study sought to determine whether individuals’ perception of competence relative to other team members influences information sharing and decision accuracy in hidden-profiles. Further, the interactive effects of competitive versus cooperative environmental factors were examined. Two-person teams were assembled to solve a hidden-profile task. Team members were led to believe that they were either more or less competent than their team-mate, and instructed to either cooperate or compete with one another. Results indicated that teams comprising individuals who perceived themselves as relatively less competent shared more information; however, decision accuracy was found to be better only under a cooperative environment. In addition, intention to strategically withhold information from one’s team-mate was found to be higher for teams under a competitive environment. The study has implications for hidden-profile research and for team decision-making in organizations.

组织中的复杂决策是一个经常分配给团队的过程。利用团队的预期好处是，由于可用信息池的扩大，结果可能优于单个决策者。但是，使用“隐藏配置文件范式”进行的研究（即，每个团队成员必须共享信息才能得出准确解决方案的研究设计）始终表明，团队成员经常无法利用自己的独特信息来做出准确的决策。此失败可能是由于社交，个人和上下文因素，信息处理的不准确性以及认知偏见的组合。当前的研究试图确定个人相对于其他团队成员的能力感知是否会影响隐藏配置文件中的信息共享和决策准确性。此外，研究了竞争性环境因素与合作性环境因素的交互作用。组建了两个人的团队来解决隐藏任务。团队成员被认为比同伴或多或少地胜任了，并被指示要彼此合作或竞争。结果表明，由认为自己能力相对较低的个人组成的团队共享更多信息；但是，发现只有在合作环境下，决策准确性才更好。此外，在竞争环境下，团队战略性地隐瞒队友的信息的意图更高。该研究对隐秘研究和组织中的团队决策具有影响。