Can GSS Groups Make Better Decisions and Feel Good at the Same Time? A Longitudinal Study of Asynchronous GSS Groups

A comprehensive review of GSS research literature indicates that in over 200 different GSS research experiments done in the last decade, GSS generally increases group decision quality or effectiveness. However, 90% of the experiments report that GSS does not increase and frequently even decreases group satisfaction. This can lead to the rejection of adoption and/or use of GSS in organizations, and has understandably become a main concern in GSS research literature. The current research explores this important issue. With a theoretical framework specifically aiming to support group development and team building, it is hypothesized that GSS embedded within such a framework may help groups make better decisions and at the same time, feel good. A longitudinal study was conducted using a second generation GSS. The suggested results reported that GSS embedded within this framework generally enhance decision quality and increase group satisfaction at the same time.