A closer look on social presence as a causing factor in computer-mediated collaboration

So far, research in computer-mediated collaboration has investigated various factors influencing the amount of social presence experienced in online settings. This experimental study broadens the perspective and investigates social presence as a causing factor on participants’ perception on task, medium and collaboration. Therefore an experiment with between subject design was conducted, with manipulation of three different levels of social presence: Full (f2f), medium online and low social presence (each n = 20). Participants had to solve an online puzzle in dyads. Findings mainly confirm a favourable influence of social presence on the perception of task and collaboration. Additionally, this study supports the importance of considering the reciprocal nature of social presence. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.