Title: Collective action theory - Wikipedia
Headings: Collective action theory
Collective action theory
Contents
Basic theory of groups
Purpose of organizations
Public goods
Traditional theory
Casual theory
Formal theory
Olson's theory of collective action
Difficulty of collective action
Collective good provision
Group size
Incentives for collective action
Relevance for interorganizational systems
Notes
References

Content: As society evolves secondary groups emerge which gradually absorb the social functions that had been provided by the kinship- and family-type units. Often these new groups reach a higher rate of interaction and importance than the primary groups. Examples for those secondary groups would be labor unions, large companies, states, churches or universities. Olson's theory of collective action
Difficulty of collective action
A single individual barely has influence on an organization's situation, but every individual is able to rejoice in every improvement, regardless of whether he/she has contributed to it, a "conflict between collectively and individually best action" is existing. Nobody is interested in bearing the expenses for the improvement, instead everyone is trying to profit from the public good in a greedy way. Olson's theory explores the market failures where individual consumer rationality and firms' profit-seeking do not lead to efficient provision of the public goods, i. e. where another level of provision would provide a higher gain at lower expenses. The basic problem consists of the fact that within the scope of Olson's model individuals, acting economically rational, do not have an interest in contributing to the provision of a public good. This is even the case if they themselves are able to utilize the good after it has been obtained. Collective good provision
First of all some general remarks are made here concerning the provision of a good. The costs rise with an increasing output of public goods as well as of private goods.