In today's networked economy, ideas that challenge existing business models and paradigms are becoming more important. This study investigated how individual differences, groupware-based creativity techniques, and ideas from others influenced the type of ideas that individuals generated. While individual differences were important (in that some individuals were inherently more likely to generate ideas that followed the existing problem paradigm while others were more likely to generate paradigm-modifying ideas that attempted to change the problem paradigm), the exposure to paradigm-modifying ideas from others and the use of intuitive groupware-based creativity techniques rather than analytical groupware-based creativity techniques were found to increase the number of paradigm-modifying ideas produced.
This study investigated the effects of GSS use on the exchange and use of information with and without a majority/minority split of opinion in the group. When there was a distinct majority/minority, groups exchanged more information, made better decisions, and took no more time when they used a GSS than when they did not use a GSS. In this case, the GSS enabled the minority to overcome the group's inertia toward the majority preference. In the uniform treatment where there was no majority preference, groups exchanged more information but made worse decisions and took more time when they used a GSS than when they did not. The primary cause for the poor performance when using the GSS was that group members did not process and use information received during discussion.