Social Influence In Computer-Mediated Communication: The Effects On Group Meeting Outcomes

Abstract

Studies of managers and knowledge workers reveal that they spend a significant amount of their time in meetings, suggesting that meetings are an important part of one's working life. Findings in Group Support Systems research suggest that using computer-mediated communication enhances idea production in group meetings. Nevertheless, little attention has been given to how the communication medium, in electronic brainstorming, influences group meeting performance. Using a laboratory experiment, 259 subjects were randomly assigned to 51 groups. Three different treatment conditions were used: no public screen, public screen presented at the end of the meeting session, and public screen provided throughout. The results show that there is a significant performance difference between groups under the three treatment conditions. The findings of this study offer striking evidence that there are social group processes that may account for these performance differences including the self-evaluation potential, social loafing and performance matching effects. Implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.