An empirical study of the task dimension of group support system

Author

Tan, Bernard C Y ; Raman, Krishnamurthy S. ; Wei, Kwok-Kee

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf. Syst. & Comput. Sci., Nat. Univ. of Singapore, Singapore

Volume

24

Issue

7

fYear

1994

fDate

7/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1054

Lastpage

1060

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of a GSS on the decision outcome of five-person, face-to-face groups performing two distinct but related task types. A controlled laboratory experiment with a 3×2 factorial design was employed. The independent variables were support level and task type. A total of 68 groups were randomly assigned to different support levels (no support, structure support, of GSS support). Half of these groups performed an intellectual task while the other half performed a preference task. The empirical findings show that task type affects consensus change and influence equality. Moreover, support level and task type jointly affect decision scheme satisfaction. This paper attempts to reconcile the body of empirical findings from related GSS studies. It discusses the implications of task type for GSS design and use

Keywords

behavioural sciences; decision theory; 3×2 factorial design; consensus change; controlled laboratory experiment; decision scheme satisfaction; five-person face-to-face groups; group support system; influence equality; intellectual task; preference task; support level; task dimension; task type; Collaborative software; Communication channels; Computer science; Decision making; History; Information systems; Laboratories;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Systems, Man and Cybernetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9472

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/21.297795

Filename

297795