Brainstorming groups have consistently produced fewer ideas than have the equivalent number of individuals working by themselves. These results have been attributed to social loafing, evaluation apprehension, and production blocking in groups. In this study, a new brainstorming technique--electronic brainstorming--that may reduce both production blocking and evaluation apprehension was assessed. Electronic and nonelectronic groups and nominal and interacting groups were compared in a 2 x 2 factorial design. Electronic groups were more productive than nonelectronic groups, but the productivity of nominal and interacting groups did not differ. In contrast, interacting groups felt better about the idea-generation process than did nominal groups. Ways in which electronic brainstorming can reopen a long dormant area of research and application are discussed.
1991) attributed the superiority of electronic brainstorming to a number of factors, including the technology's ability to reduce production blocking. In the present article, the authors manipulated production blocking in 3 experiments and assessed the performance of blocked and unblocked electronic brainstorming groups and verbal brainstorming groups. When normal electronic brainstorming groups were compared with verbal brainstorming groups, electronic brainstorming groups were found to be significantly more productive, which replicated earlier research results. In contrast, blocked electronic brainstorming groups performed at the same (or lower) levels as verbal brainstorming groups in all 3 experiments. The authors conclude that the reduction in production blocking inherent in using the electronic brainstorming technology is 1 reason that electronic brainstorming groups are more productive than verbal brainstorming groups.
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