THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION-SYSTEMS ON BIASED GROUP DISCUSSION

One advantage of groups is that they have access to a larger pool of expertise and knowledge than individual group members. However, groups are sometimes inefficient at sharing information and tend to focus on only a portion of the available information. This tendency has been called biased discussion. The present study examines the effects of communication mode (face-to-face vs. remote), information load, and distribution of information on biased discussion. Biased discussion was found to occur to a greater degree when (1) communication mode was remote (i.e., computer mediated), (2) information load was high, and (3) the majority of the available information was known by all group members. The difference in the size of information pool accommodated by the types of communication media was found to affect the extent of information sharing in the groups.