Distributed teamwork: The impact of communication media on influence and decision quality

Differences in individual influence and decision quality across communication media were examined. Two competing hypotheses were contrasted. One hypothesis suggested that changes in influence across media may be due to a reduction in evaluation apprehension. If the evaluation apprehension hypothesis is correct, participants who dominate face-to-face conversations would maintain their level of influence across media conditions, while less dominating individuals would exert greater influence over less immediate types of media (telephone, computer) than face-to-face. Alternatively, changes in influence may be due to a free riding effect. If the free riding hypothesis was true, dominating members would reduce their level of influence over less immediate media, while less dominating members would maintain their level of influence across media conditions. Decision quality was predicted to depend on the effect of communication media on influence. Sixty-four introductory psychology students, grouped in pairs, performed 3 survival tasks on 3 different communication media (i.e., face-to-face, telephone, computer). The results showed that influence for dominating participants remained stable across the 3 media conditions. Less dominating participants, on the other hand, had higher levels of influence in the telephone and computer conditions than in the face-to-face condition. Influence for less dominating participants, however, did not differ between telephone and computer-mediated conditions. Furthermore, quality of decision did not differ across communication media. These findings indicate that media differences may be more complex than previous models suggest.