Understanding the Salience of Cognitive Diversity in Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Teams

In the group decision-making literature, the effects of diversity on group interaction and performance have also been well investigated. However, with the increasing reliance of organizations on collaborative technology, it is not clear whether cognitive diversity affects the decision-making processes and group performance across cultural and geographic boundaries in a similar fashion as it does in traditional face-to-face teams. Our goal of this study, thus, is to compare the effects of cognitive diversity on group interaction and decision outcomes in traditional teams and computer-mediated teams. Considering the two dimensions of cognitive diversity, we suggest that in traditional teams, surface-level cognitive diversity reduces team members’ satisfaction with group interaction; while deep-level cognitive diversity improves team members’ satisfaction with group decisions. In comparison, the negative effect of surface-level cognitive diversity will be mitigated in virtual teams, whereas the positive effect of deep-level cognitive diversity will be strengthened. The study is empirically tested using an intellective decision-making task. Results provide partial support for our hypotheses, and shed light on both research and practice involving technology-mediated teams.

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