Group brainstorming: When regulatory nonfit enhances performance

In a study investigating motivational factors in group brainstorming, we investigated the impact on performance of regulatory fit/nonfit (based on the group’s focus and task strategy). All members of three-person groups were placed in either a promotion focus or a prevention focus and then were all given either an eager strategy or a vigilant strategy for performing a brainstorming task (with an expectancy stop rule). As predicted, groups experiencing nonfit (promotion/vigilant, prevention/ eager) spent more time working on the task and generated more nonredundant ideas than did groups experiencing fit (promotion/eager, prevention/vigilant). Also as predicted, task persistence mediated the joint impact of regulatory focus and task strategy on idea generation. Parallel results for idea diversity and quality were accounted for by number of ideas generated. These findings shed light on motivational aspects of group brainstorming and demonstrate the utility of regulatory fit theory for explaining small group phenomena.