Stimulating Thinking in Group Decision Making

Previous research shows that groupware increases the exchange of information for groups, but that the additional comments do not necessarily lead to better decisions. Lack of individual information processing and information overload have been noted as probable causes. Poor attention to information and poor integration of information may cause lack of information processing. Therefore, this study explored the use of groupware processes that required group members to categorize information in order to induce members to attend to and integrate information into their decision making processes. Different groupware processes had different effects on attention to and integration of information, and ultimately decision quality. Groupware processes that provided categories to organize information and those that required the receiver of information to categorize information improved attention to information and integration of information, which led to improved decision quality.