A social capital perspective on computer-mediated group performance and creativity.

摘要

In light of the widespread deployment of technology for group collaboration in organizations, this research examines group collaboration with the theoretical lenses provided by distributed cognition. In particular, group processes and outcomes are impacted by the characteristics of the technology that mediate group interaction, as well as the social dynamics that play out within the group. Using a 2x2 factorial design, we empirically examine the combined impact of group memory (a technology factor) and group history (a social factor), on group performance and creativity. Group memory is manipulated with the presence (or absence) of the discussion transcript as an electronic aid that helps with communication recall. Group history is implemented by comparing groups that have worked together before versus those that have not. In addition we incorporate a social capital perspective in the analysis by studying the mediating effects of relational social capital operationalized as relational closeness and relational trust. To the best of our knowledge, this is the one of the few empirical studies to bring in a social capital perspective in computer-mediated group communication. While it remains that performance and creativity are two-fold objectives in most organizations, they may have different drivers. We explore this phenomenon in analyzing the differential impact of group history, group memory and social capital. Our results show that current technological advances have changed the predictions that are traditionally associated with the impact of group memory and group history on performance and creativity. Traditionally, group history has been associated with low creativity, but our results show that this is not necessarily so. We find that history actually tends to improve creativity, especially in the absence of memory. Group memory, by lowering relational trust, has a positive impact on creativity. Relational social capital has a positive impact on performance but not on creativity. We propose that organizations evaluate the impact of history and memory, not in isolation, but in conjunction with each other and with relational social capital. This is of great relevance to organizations in decisions on group collaboration and technology.