The Shared Nature of Decision Making, The Impact of "Stress-Bragging", and The Consequences of Team-Based Rewards

Cognicent | 26 November, 2025 | Newsletter

Welcome to the November edition of our Insight Articles!

In this edition we take a look at how complex decision making is actually a universally consistent process, even across cultures, The impact that “stress-bragging” has on individuals and those arounds them, and we’ll look at how team-based reward systems may be driving some unintended consequences. 

When faced with a tough decision or a complex problem, one would assume that reaching out to others to bounce ideas and gain advice would be a common practice. After all, even the research tells us that our decision making improves when we do this. However, in the largest test of cross-cultural decision-making preferences in history, researchers out of the University of Waterloo actually found these behaviours not to be the norm. The study surveyed 3, 500 people across 12 countries including those from fast-paced megacities through to remote Amazon communities.

The researchers found that:

When it comes to complex decision making, people’s natural tendency is to reflect and decide on a course of action alone.

Even in cultures with high levels of interdependency, this finding held true, dismantling the belief that only western cultures decision make in this way.

Relying on Intuition and self-reflection beat out gaining advice from friends and crowdsourcing in all 12 countries studied.

As humans, we appear to share the habit of looking inward first when making decisions, the only thing that independent or interdependent cultures do is vary the degree to which that internal process occurs.

Consider:

When it comes to teamwork and decision making, do you give your people an opportunity to reflect independently before sharing as a group?

Where are the opportunities to incorporate personal reflection into your teams decision making process?

Article Reference:

Grossmann, I., Rudnev, M., Dorfman, A., Atari, M., Barr, K., Bencherifa, A., … & Machery, E. (2025). Decision-making preferences for intuition, deliberation, friends or crowds in independent and interdependent societies. Proceedings B, 292(2052), 20251355.

Have you ever met someone who feels the need to tell anyone who will listen about how stressful their life is, constantly expressing the “full plate” they have and how they’re “stressed to the max”? It’s probably something many of us have been guilty of from time to time as well. Well research coming out of the University of Georgia sought to understand the impact of this behaviour, known as “stress-bragging”.  They surveyed 360 participants and had them compare statements and rate likeability, competence and likelihood of helping a number of hypothetical co-workers who had just returned from a conference. Their findings provide some insight into the costs of wearing stress like a badge of honour.

Researchers found:

When comparing the statement “just one more thing on my full plate. And I was already stressed to the max…you have no idea the stress that I am under” to a colleague who simply said work had been “stressful”, or another co-worker who spoke about how “great” the conference was, the former was viewed as less likeable and competent compared to the other two.

Participants expressed that they were also less likely to help someone who stress-brags.

Employees who have colleagues who stress-brag tend to report higher levels of stress and burnout themselves, suggesting there may be a spiralling, contagious effect when stress-bragging is commonplace

Those who discussed their stress levels in passing and even employees who were perceived as being stressed weren’t viewed unfavourably by colleagues, nor did they stress their colleagues out.

Researchers explained that it’s not being stressed which creates unfavourable views, but the bragging which is likely to backfire on an employee. While discussing stressors is an important part of healthy emotional processing, bragging only serves to diminish colleague perceptions.

Consider:

Do you or any of your team have a tendency to wear stress as a badge of honour?

If so, how might you redirect discussions about stress in a more helpful way to reduce the impact on the individual and the broader team?

Article Reference:

Jessica B. Rodell, Braydon C. Shanklin, Emma L. Frank. “I’m so stressed!”: The relational consequences of stress bragging. Personnel Psychology, 2024; DOI: 10.1111/peps.12645

Team-based reward systems have become commonplace within many organisations, forming a critical part of good management practices and leading to a range of benefits. However, a study out of the University of Bath explored a potential hidden side effect of a team-based reward system, particularly when compared to a blended or even individual reward-system. Their findings provide a sound reflection point for managers who implement such reward systems.

Researchers noted:

When compared to employees who are individually rewarded, employees in team-based reward systems were more likely to turn a blind eye to unethical behaviour.

When unethical behaviours occur in a team-based reward system, employees are less likely to call it out because of the mutual advantage

Team-based reward systems, although designed to foster positive work environments, may mask unethical behaviour due to the desire to preserve a “positive” work environment

Recommendations around blending team and individual-based reward systems in a way that caters to the needs of your company may be a useful compromise

A culture where people feel safe enough to speak up without feeling like doing so will disadvantage them was also cited as a focus point for

Consider:

Do you have team-based reward systems for your people?

Is there an opportunity to blend team and individual-based reward systems within your teams?

Do your team feel safe enough to call out unacceptable behaviours without fear of it costing them? How would you know?

Article Reference:

Qiongjing Hu, Hajo Adam, Sreedhari Desai, Shenjiang Mo. Turning a Blind Eye to Team Members’ Unethical Behavior: The Role of Reward Systems. Journal of Business Ethics, 2024; DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05598-4

We hope that you have a safe, well and productive rest of your week.

– The Cognicent Team