  In group foraging situations, the conventional expectation is that increased
food availability would enhance consumption, especially when animals prioritize
maximizing their food intake. This paper challenges this conventional wisdom by
conducting an in-depth game-theoretic analysis of a basic producer-scrounger
model, in which animals must choose between intensive food searching as
producers or moderate searching while relying on group members as scroungers.
Surprisingly, our study reveals that, under certain circumstances, increasing
food availability can amplify the inclination to scrounge to such an extent
that it paradoxically leads to a reduction in animals' food consumption
compared to scenarios with limited food availability. We further illustrate a
similar phenomenon in a model capturing free-riding dynamics among workers in a
company. We demonstrate that, under certain reward mechanisms, enhancing
workers' production capacities can inadvertently trigger a surge in free-riding
behavior, leading to both diminished group productivity and reduced individual
payoffs. Our findings underscore the significance of contextual factors when
comprehending and predicting the impact of resource availability on individual
and collective outcomes.
