Developing an entitativity measure and distinguishing it from antecedents and outcomes within online and face-to-face groups

In: Group processes & intergroup relations: GPIR, Volume 23, Issue 1, p. 91-108

Abstract

Entitativity, an individual's recognition of a social unit as a group, is a fundamental group characteristic. However, past entitativity measures have not demonstrated their psychometric validity. We create and demonstrate initial psychometric validity for a new measure of entitativity as well as several of its antecedents. We demonstrate convergent and divergent validity of our entitativity measure (and the antecedents) in three studies of online and face-to-face groups in which people either observe a group or are members of a group. Results demonstrate that our measures of entitativity and its antecedents are robust across different group contexts. We also discuss the implications of the results of this research to advance entitativity theory.