The Effect of Computer-Mediated Communication on Agreement and Acceptance.

Author List: Kahai, Surinder S.; Cooper, Randolph B.;
Journal of Management Information Systems, 1999, Volume 16, Issue 1, Page 165-188.
This study develops and tests a model of relationships among computer-mediated communication systems (CMCS), group processes, and group outcomes. The group outcomes examined are agreement and acceptance. Agreement is the extent to which members of a problem-solving group hold similar views and solutions about the problem at the end of their task. Acceptance is the extent to which members of a problem-solving group acquiesce to the views and solutions of other members, while holding reservations about those views and solutions. The distinction between agreement and acceptance is important because members in agreement are more likely to support the implementation of their solution than are those who merely accept the solution. Based on a laboratory experiment, the authors find that socioemotional communication (both positive--showing friendliness and supportiveness--and negative---showing hostility and rejection) as well as task-oriented communication play important mediating roles between CMCS use and acceptance and agreement. The findings suggest ways to promote agreement through management intervention and CMCS design. In addition, their findings suggest some intriguing avenues for further research, such as the lack of symmetry between the effects of positive and negative socioemotional communication.
Keywords: acceptance; agreement; computer-mediated communication; electronic meeting systems; group decision support systems; group performance; group processes; negotiation tasks
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#233 0.221 group gss support groups systems brainstorming research process electronic members results paper effects individual ebs using used anonymity ideas discussion
#257 0.144 group support groups meeting gdss decision systems meetings technology study electronic ems task process communication computer-supported outcomes quality consensus face-to-face
#216 0.120 conceptual model modeling object-oriented domain models entities representation understanding diagrams schema semantic attributes represented representing object relationships concepts classes entity-relationship
#166 0.099 negative positive effect findings results effects blog suggest role blogs posts examined period relationship employees research employee bloggers reveal companies
#34 0.096 negotiation negotiations using potential power agreement paper bases partners ending negotiators offers visualization messaging instant audio e-marketplaces provide positions agents
#99 0.076 perceived usefulness acceptance use technology ease model usage tam study beliefs intention user intentions users behavioral perceptions determinants constructs studies
#31 0.074 problem problems solution solving problem-solving solutions reasoning heuristic theorizing rules solve general generating complex example formulation heuristics effective given finding
#203 0.073 communication media computer-mediated e-mail richness electronic cmc mail medium message performance convergence used communications messages face-to-face findings participants results work