Brainstorming Groups

Abstract

This study examines the performance of individuals in zero-history brainstorming groups and determines the relationships among communication apprehension, ambiguity tolerance, perceptions of task attraction, and individual ideational output. Results of a stepwise multiple-discriminant analysis reveal that individuals who were high producers of ideas perceived the brainstorming task as more attractive, were low in communication apprehension, and possessed higher ambiguity tolerance than those individuals low in ideational productivity Discussion focuses on the relative importance of the three variables in discriminating between effective and ineffective brainstormers