UC Berkeley

From the Walmart Cheer to the Cold Stone Creamery Tip Song, many groups engage in their own rituals (i.e., predefined sequences of symbolic actions). Despite the prevalence of rituals in group settings, the consequences of group rituals have rarely been studied by organizational researchers. This is surprising, given the potential for rituals to influence meaningful organizational outcomes. In this dissertation I develop a comprehensive theory of group rituals, including offering a more refined definition of rituals as compared to similar constructs such as norms, identifying how group rituals influence the key group construct of member commitment, and shedding light on a collateral influence that has not been considered before, the outsiders’ perceptions of the group. I aim to show that group rituals physically represent the group’s most important values and can consequently influence behavior in group settings. In particular, I examine the relationship between group rituals and group commitment among existing members and prospective members.

Among existing group members, I consider the bi-directional relationship between group rituals and group commitment. I suggest that engagement in rituals increases member commitment because rituals stand for the group’s values, such that the enactment of rituals makes the group appear as a cohesive entity to members. Furthermore, I suggest that more (vs. less) committed members will be more likely to protect the group's rituals (e.g., punish those who attempt to alter the rituals), ensuring that rituals are faithfully executed over time within the group. In this way, rituals and commitment to the group reinforce each other in a recursive cycle, such that (a) rituals promote member commitment and (b) higher levels of member commitment promote adherence to rituals (yielding a “cycle of commitment”).

Among prospective group members, I consider how observing the enactment of rituals influences prospective members’ own willingness to commit to the group. I suggest that, because group rituals physically represent the group's values, they signal that the group has committed members to outsiders. I propose that perceptions that members are committed to a group can signal an elevated capacity to reach group goals, which will have a positive impact on own willingness to commit among those who share the values of the group (i.e., subjective value congruence) but a weaker or even negative impact among those who do not share the values of the group (i.e., subjective value incongruence). In this way, I theorize rituals promote commitment because rituals attract prospective members who are willing to be committed to the group. This indicates that potential new members who perceive themselves as value-incongruent (such as demographically underrepresented individuals) will be less willing to commit to a group that engages in rituals.

The theory of group rituals and group commitment that I propose in this dissertation suggests that rituals promote commitment among existing members and prospective members with congruent values, which can often be beneficial, but, that a somewhat hidden cost is that they can also exclude prospective members who perceive themselves as value-incongruent with the group (such as demographically underrepresented individuals). I conducted eight studies that test the relationship between group rituals and member commitment using a mix of experimental and observational (e.g., longitudinal survey) research. Studies 1 and 2 tested the effect of workgroup rituals on employee commitment among U.S. workers in the context of the COVID- 19 pandemic. Studies 3 and 4 examined national and cultural rituals, investigating whether more (vs. less) committed group members are most likely to protect the group’s rituals from people who attempt to alter them. Finally, Studies 5, 6, 7, and 8 examined how the enactment of rituals in organizational settings interacts with values of the group to influence prospective group members’ own willingness to commit to the group.

The results offer support for the bi-directional relationship between group rituals and group commitment among existing group members. On one hand, engagement in rituals increases commitment to the group (Studies 1-2). On the other hand, more (vs. less) committed group members are more likely to promote adherence to rituals by punishing those who attempt to alter them (Studies 3-4). In this way, rituals and commitment reinforce each other in a cycle among existing group members.

However, among prospective group members, the results offer mixed support. While I found some evidence that rituals signal the group has committed members (Studies 5, 7, 8), I do not find robust evidence that rituals influence an outsider’s willingness to commit to the group (Studies 7-8). Accordingly, as value congruence did not moderate the effect of rituals on prospective member’s own willingness to commit to the group, I also do not find evidence that people who are prone to perceive themselves as value-incongruent (e.g., demographically underrepresented individuals) are less willing to commit to a group that engages in rituals (Study 7). Thus, the hypothesized negative consequence of rituals—rituals exclude underrepresented minority individuals—was not supported.

In summary, this dissertation proposes and tests a theory of group rituals and group commitment, providing one of the first empirical investigations of rituals in organizational behavior. By conceptualizing rituals within organizational behavior and testing for their relationship with group commitment, future research can build on this dissertation to deepen our understanding of the functions of rituals in organizational setting.