The extensive nature of group quality

TL;DR

This paper models groups of interacting nodes as complex systems, revealing that inter-node interactions significantly influence group quality, leading to phase transition phenomena, with empirical validation on scientific research groups.

Contribution

It introduces a mean-field theoretical framework emphasizing inter-nodal interactions over individual strengths and identifies critical masses in research groups.

Findings

Inter-nodal interactions dominate group quality.

Phase transition phenomena observed in group dynamics.

Critical masses identified in scientific research groups.

Abstract

We consider groups of interacting nodes engaged in an activity as many-body, complex systems and analyse their cooperative behaviour from a mean-field point of view. We show that inter-nodal interactions rather than accumulated individual node strengths dominate the quality of group activity, and give rise to phenomena akin to phase transitions, where the extensive relationship between group quality and quantity reduces. The theory is tested using empirical data on quantity and quality of scientific research groups, for which critical masses are determined.