Culturally Heterogeneous vs. Culturally Homogeneous Groups in Distributed Group Support Systems: Effects on Satisfaction

摘要

As global virtual teams become more common, the need to better understand how groups composed of individuals from different cultural backgrounds perform has never been more pressing. This study compares groups from the same cultural background with groups from various cultural backgrounds using two different communication media (face-to-face and an asynchronous conferencing system). Data was collected on 46 groups, which included a total of 268 subjects representing 39 countries. Research questions regarding group process and satisfaction were addressed specifically as they relate to cross-cultural group work. The results of this study suggest that when faced with a value-based cognitive conflict task, culturally heterogeneous groups are more satisfied with the decision and the decision process than culturally homogeneous groups.