The Effects of Expert Presence and Junk Filtering on Computer-Mediated Group Idea Generation

In computer-based idea generation, task-irrelevant comments that often have a negative contagion effect are problematic. Prior studies suggest that such frivolous comments tend to induce the same or similar type of comments, undermining performance norm. Researchers often suggest operant conditioning to avoid or eliminate the process losses that undermine productivity. Accordingly, a negative reinforcement in the form of expert presence and a punishment in the form of real-time junk filtering were introduced as plausible solutions to reduce the occurrence of frivolous comments during the group interaction. As for the former, the result showed that groups in the real-name / expert presence condition performed better than groups in the anonymity (or psuedonymity) / expert presence condition. As for the latter, the result showed that groups in the strong filtering condition outperformed the non-filtering and weak- filtering conditions (including the real-name / expert presence condition). Interestingly, this outcome (at least in the computer-based idea generation environment) is opposite of what most learning experts agree on the more importance of reinforcement over punishment for behavioral performance modification. However, individuals who received stronger evaluative treatments expressed lower satisfaction than individuals who received mild or no evaluative treatments, despite performance enhancement. The implications of these findings for future research, as well as the implications for the design of group idea generation procedures are discussed.