IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ininma/v34y2014i5p652-659.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How much has my co-worker contributed? The impact of anonymity and feedback on social loafing in asynchronous virtual collaboration

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Fang
  • Zhang, Limin
  • Latimer, Joseph

Abstract

This paper reports an experiment that investigates how feedback about co-worker's performance and anonymity affect a team member's performance in an idea generation task conducted asynchronously. The results indicated that there was no main effect of anonymity: anonymity by itself did not affect group performance. Receiving information about co-worker's performance increased group performance; however, the perceived level of co-worker's performance did not affect group performance. Participants who perceived that their co-workers had high performance experienced significantly more social comparison with identified input than with anonymous input. However, this motivation gain did not translate into a performance gain. Implications of these results and future research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Fang & Zhang, Limin & Latimer, Joseph, 2014. "How much has my co-worker contributed? The impact of anonymity and feedback on social loafing in asynchronous virtual collaboration," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 652-659.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ininma:v:34:y:2014:i:5:p:652-659
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.05.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401214000486
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.05.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monica J. Garfield & Nolan J. Taylor & Alan R. Dennis & John W. Satzinger, 2001. "Research Report: Modifying Paradigms—Individual Differences, Creativity Techniques, and Exposure to Ideas in Group Idea Generation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 12(3), pages 322-333, September.
    2. Bruce A. Reinig & Robert O. Briggs, 2008. "On The Relationship Between Idea-Quantity and Idea-Quality During Ideation," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 403-420, September.
    3. J. H. Jung & Christoph Schneider & Joseph Valacich, 2010. "Enhancing the Motivational Affordance of Information Systems: The Effects of Real-Time Performance Feedback and Goal Setting in Group Collaboration Environments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(4), pages 724-742, April.
    4. Weldon, Elizabeth & Mustari, Elisa L., 1988. "Felt dispensability in groups of coactors: The effects of shared responsibility and explicit anonymity on cognitive effort," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 330-351, June.
    5. Terry Connolly & Leonard M. Jessup & Joseph S. Valacich, 1990. "Effects of Anonymity and Evaluative Tone on Idea Generation in Computer-Mediated Groups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(6), pages 689-703, June.
    6. Laku Chidambaram & Lai Lai Tung, 2005. "Is Out of Sight, Out of Mind? An Empirical Study of Social Loafing in Technology-Supported Groups," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 149-168, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. O'Leary, Kevin & Gleasure, Rob & O'Reilly, Philip & Feller, Joseph, 2022. "Introducing the concept of creative ancestry as a means of increasing perceived fairness and satisfaction in online collaboration: An experimental study," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    2. J. H. Jung & Christoph Schneider & Joseph Valacich, 2010. "Enhancing the Motivational Affordance of Information Systems: The Effects of Real-Time Performance Feedback and Goal Setting in Group Collaboration Environments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(4), pages 724-742, April.
    3. Yossi Maaravi & Ben Heller & Yael Shoham & Shay Mohar & Baruch Deutsch, 2021. "Ideation in the digital age: literature review and integrative model for electronic brainstorming," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1431-1464, August.
    4. William G. Heninger & Alan R. Dennis & Kelly McNamara Hilmer, 2006. "Research Note: Individual Cognition and Dual-Task Interference in Group Support Systems," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 415-424, December.
    5. Smith, Antoinette L. & Murthy, Uday S. & Engle, Terry J., 2012. "Why computer-mediated communication improves the effectiveness of fraud brainstorming," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 334-356.
    6. Isabella Seeber & Ronald Maier & Barbara Weber, 2013. "Macrocognition in Collaboration: Analyzing Processes of Team Knowledge Building with CoPrA," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 915-942, September.
    7. Wei Zhang & Qingpu Zhang, 2014. "Multi-stage evaluation and selection in the formation process of complex creative solution," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2375-2404, September.
    8. Kimmy Wa Chan & Stella Yiyan Li & Jian Ni & John JianJun Zhu, 2021. "What Feedback Matters? The Role of Experience in Motivating Crowdsourcing Innovation," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(1), pages 103-126, January.
    9. Kent Marett & Joey F. George, 2013. "Barriers to Deceiving Other Group Members in Virtual Settings," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 89-115, January.
    10. Deepa K. Ray & Nicholas C. Romano, 2013. "Creative Problem Solving in GSS Groups: Do Creative Styles Matter?," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 1129-1157, November.
    11. Bruce A. Reinig & Robert O. Briggs, 2013. "Putting Quality First in Ideation Research," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 943-973, September.
    12. I Millet & J L Gogan, 2006. "A dialectical framework for problem structuring and information technology," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 57(4), pages 434-442, April.
    13. Meng Ma & Ritu Agarwal, 2007. "Through a Glass Darkly: Information Technology Design, Identity Verification, and Knowledge Contribution in Online Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 42-67, March.
    14. Ziheng Zhang & Rui Patricio & Gianluca Carella & Francesco Zurlo, 2022. "Supporting a Sustainable and Engaging Online Transition for Co-Design through Gamification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-22, May.
    15. Russell Haines & Jill Hough & Lan Cao & Douglas Haines, 2014. "Anonymity in Computer-Mediated Communication: More Contrarian Ideas with Less Influence," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 765-786, July.
    16. Meinel, Martin & Eismann, Tobias T. & Baccarella, Christian V. & Fixson, Sebastian K. & Voigt, Kai-Ingo, 2020. "Does applying design thinking result in better new product concepts than a traditional innovation approach? An experimental comparison study," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 661-671.
    17. Wang Kai, 2019. "Towards a Taxonomy of Idea Generation Techniques," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 65-80, January.
    18. Vveinhardt Jolita & Banikonytė Justina, 2017. "Development Perspectives of the Social Group Cohesion in Reducing Social Loafing," Management of Organizations: Systematic Research, Sciendo, vol. 77(1), pages 185-202, June.
    19. Jovana Kovacevic & Sophie Hooge & Albert David, 2015. "Analyzing The Micro-Processes Of Collaborative Concept Generation At Ideation Stages: The Case Of Innovation-Oriented Web Community Discussions," Post-Print hal-01138847, HAL.
    20. Ofir Turel & Catherine E. Connelly, 2012. "Team Spirit: The Influence of Psychological Collectivism on the Usage of E-Collaboration Tools," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 703-725, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ininma:v:34:y:2014:i:5:p:652-659. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-information-management .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.