Information Exchange and Use in Small Group Decision Making

Abstract

This study examines information exchange and decision-making processes in small groups that interacted verbally orwitha group support system (GSS). Six-memberGSSand non-GSS groups worked to solve a hidden profile task in which members had different information and needed to share their information to discover the optimal decision. Both GSS and non-GSS groups exchanged only a small portion of the available information. Both made poor decisions because they lacked sufficient information and failed to effectively use the shared information. GSS groups were less likely to use the shared information, possibly because anonymity reduced the information's credibility or the GSS impaired members' abilities to integrate the newly received information into their existing base of information.