How collaborative, interpersonal, and disaster-responsive tendencies work together in non-face-to-face environments: lessons from prolonged pandemic experiences

Abstract

This study investigates the dynamics of collaborative characteristics, interpersonal reactivity, and disaster situation responses in non-face-to-face settings, a response mechanism increasingly relevant in the wake of prolonged pandemics. By examining a group of 123 university students engaged in a seven-week non-face-to-face collaborative project, the research identifies relational patterns between collaborative traits such as regulation and efficacy, interpersonal empathy, and responses to disaster situations. The research methodology employs a sophisticated analytical framework comprising factor and canonical correlation analyses to identify how empathy and collaborative efficacy significantly related with disaster response in online collaborations. The mediation and moderation models analyzed confirm mutual mediation effects of collaborative regulation and interpersonal reactivity on situational empathy without significant moderation effects. This suggests there were direct causal relationships of collaborative regulation, collaborative efficacy, interpersonal reactivity on situational empathy. The findings underscore the pivotal role of empathy in collaboration during disasters offering a nuanced understanding of the social and psychological underpinnings that enable collective responses to crises in environments lacking physical interaction and illuminating the critical role of collaborative and interpersonal skills in such settings.