Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Affect in computer-mediated and face-to-face work groups: The construction and testing of a general model

  • Published:
Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study examines the role of affect, or emotion, in the performance of computer-mediated and face-to-face work groups. Past research has focussed on the role of affect in either individual information processing or behavior in settings requiring interpersonal interaction. Little research has examined the role of affect in groups, especially those in a work group setting. Even less is known about the role that the communication medium plays in the expression or impact of group members' affect. To integrate these domains, a general model of affect in work group settings is proposed. Predictions are derived from the relevant affect, group interaction, and group performance literatures. In addition, predictions about the moderating role of the communication system are discussed. Results from a path analysis suggest that affect has a substantial impact intragroup on processes as well as on work group performance. In face-to-face groups, the affect experienced by group members had an impact on the group's cohesiveness, the amount members participated in the task, and the degree to which members processed information relevant to the task. These factors, in turn, had implications for the group's performance. In computer-mediated groups, affect had an effect on the group's cohesiveness and the amount of information processing, though these were unrelated to any performance measures for these groups. Similarities and differences between communication media are discussed in terms of their importance for extending our understanding about the role of affect in a group performance context.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams-Webber, Jack (1992): Construct asymmetry and the range of relevance of personal anticipations. Special Issue: Positive-negative asymmetry in affect and evaluations: Part I.European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 22, pp. 465–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, John R. (1976):Language, memory and thought. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, John R. and Bower, Gordon H. (1979):Human associative memory. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ang, Soon, Cummings, Larry L., Straub, D.W. and Earley, Christopher P. (1993): The effects of information technology and the perceived mood of the feedback giver on feedback seeking.Information Systems Research, vol. 4, pp. 240–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arrow, Holly and McGrath, Joseph E. (1995): Membership dynamics in groups at work: A theoretical framework.Research in Organizational Behavior, vol. 17, pp. 373–411.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodenhausen, Galen V., Sheppard, Lori A. and Kramer, Geoffrey P. (1994): NA and social judgment: The differential impact of anger and sadness. Special Issue: Affect in social judgments and cognition.European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 24, pp. 45–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohner, Gerd, Crow, Kimberly, Erb, Hans Peter and Schwarz, Norbert (1992): Affect and persuasion: Mood effects on the processing of message content and context cues and on subsequent behaviour. Special Issue: Positive-negative asymmetry in affect and evaluations: II.European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 22, pp. 511–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brief, Arthur P., Houston Butcher, Ann and Roberson, Loriann (1995): Cookies, disposition, and job attitudes: The effects of positive mood-inducing events and negative affectivity on job satisfaction in a field experiment.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 62, pp. 55–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, Donn, and Clore, Gerald L. (1970): A reinforcement model of evaluative responses.Personality: An International Journal, vol. 1, pp. 103–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carnevale, Peter J.D. and Isen, Alice M. (1986): The influence of positive affect and visual access on the discovery of integrative solutions in bilateral negotiation.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 37, pp. 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cialdini, Robert B., Baumann, Donald J. and Kenrick Douglas T. (1981): Insights from sadness: A three-step model of the development of altruism as hedonism.Developmental Review, vol. 3, pp. 207–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, Lee Anna, and Watson, David (1988): Mood and the mundane: Relations between daily life events and self-reported mood.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 54, pp. 296–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clore, Gerald L., Schwarz, Norbert N. and Conway, Michael (1993): Affective causes and consequences of social information processing. In Robert S. Wyer and Thomas K. Srull (Eds.),Handbook of social cognition (pp. 323–417). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daft, Richard L., and Lengel, Robert H. (1986): Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design.Management Science, vol. 32, pp. 554–571.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davitz, J.R. (1969):The language of emotion. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterbrook, J.A. (1959): The effect of emotion on cue utilization and the organization of behavior.Psychological Review, vol. 66, pp. 183–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmons, Robert A., Diener, Ed and Larsen, Randy J. (1986): Choice and avoidance of everyday situations and affect congruence: Two models of reciprocal interactionism.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 51, pp. 815–826.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forgas, Joseph (1992): Mood and the perception of unusual people: Affective asymmetry in memory and social judgments. Special Issue: Positive-negative asymmetry in affect and evaluations: II.European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 22, pp. 531–547.

    Google Scholar 

  • George, Jennifer (1990): Personality, affect, and behavior in groups.Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 75, pp. 107–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurtman, Michael S., Martin, Kathryn N. and Hintzman, Noelle M. (1990): Interpersonal reactions to displays of depression and anxiety.Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, vol. 9, pp. 256–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guzzo, Richard A., and Waters, James A. (1982): The expression of affect and the performance or decision-making groups.Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 67, pp. 67–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harkness, Allan R., DeBono, Kenneth G. and Borgida, Eugene (1985): Personal involvement and strategies for making contingency judgments: A stake in the dating game makes a difference.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 49, pp. 22–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hastie, Reid (1986):Review Essay: Experimental evidence on group accuracy. In B. Grofman and B. Owen (Eds.) Information pooling and group decision making. Greenwich, CN: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiltz, Starr Roxanne, and Turoff, Murray (1978):The network nation: Human communication via computer. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollingshead, Andrea B., McGrath, Joseph E. and O'Connor, Kathleen M. (1993): Group task performance and communication technology: A longitudinal study of computer-mediated vs face-to-face work groups.Small Group Research, vol. 24, pp. 307–333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howell, Andrew, and Conway, Michael (1992): Mood and the suppression of positive and negative self-referent thoughts.Cognitive Therapy and Research, vol. 16, pp. 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isen, Alice M. (1984): Toward understanding the role of affect in cognition. In Robert S. Wyer and Thomas K. Srull (Eds.),Handbook of social cognition, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 179–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isen, Alice M., Daubman, Kimberly A. and Nowicki, Gary P. (1987): Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 52, pp. 1122–1131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isen, Alice M., Johnson, Mitzi M., Mertz, Elizabeth and Robinson, Gregory F. (1985): The influence of PA on the unusualness of word associations.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. vol. 48, pp. 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, Neil S., and Anderson, Erling A. (1982): Interpersonal skill and depression in college students: An analysis of the timing of self-disclosures.Behavior Therapy, vol. 13, pp. 271–282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janis, Irving L. (1972):Victims of groupthink: A psychological study of foreign-policy decisions and fiascoes. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, Timothy R., and Hulin, Chuck L. (1993): Job satisfaction as a reflection of disposition: A multiple source causal analysis.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 56, pp. 388–421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, R.L. (1981):Work and health. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keltner, Dacher, Ellsworth, Phoebe C. and Edwards, Kari (1993): Beyond simple pessimism: Effects of sadness and anger on social perception.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 64, pp. 740–752.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiesler, Sara, Zubrow, David, Moses, A.M. and Geller, V. (1985): Affect in computer-mediated communication: An experiment in synchronous terminal-to-terminal discussion.Human Computer Interaction, vol. 1, pp. 77–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laughlin, Patrick R., and Branch, Laurence G. (1975): Individual vs. Tetradic performance on a complementary task as a function of initial ability level.”Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, vol. 31, pp. 487–496.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lebie, Linda, Rhoades, Jonathan A. and McGrath, Joseph E. (1996): Interaction process in computer-mediated and face-to-face groups.Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), vol. 4, pp. 127–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leung, Kwok (1988): Some determinants of conflict avoidance.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, vol. 19, pp. 125–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locke, Edward A. (1976): The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In M.D. Dunnette (Ed.).Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. 1297–1350, Chicago: Rand McNally.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackie, Diane M., and Worth, Leila T. (1989): Processing deficits and the mediation of PA in persuasion.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 57, pp. 27–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, Leonard L., Ward, David W., Achee, John W. and Wyer, Robert S. (1993): Mood as input: People have to interpret the motivational implications of their moods.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 64, pp. 317–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, John C., Barden, R. Christopher and Ford, Martin (1979): Affective states, expressive behavior, and learning in children.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 37, pp. 380–390.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, Roderick P. (1985):Factor analysis and related methods. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGrath, Joseph E. (1984):Groups: Interaction and Performance. Englewood New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGrath, Joseph E., and Arrow, Holly (1996): Introduction: The JEMCO-2 Study of Time, Technology, and Groups.Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), this issue.

  • McGrath, Joseph E., and Hollingshead, Andrea B. (1994):Groups interacting with technology: Ideas, evidence, issues, and an agenda. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mullen, Brian, and Copper, Carolyn (1994): The relation between group cohesiveness and performance: An integration.Psychological Bulletin, vol. 115, pp. 210–227.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nemeth, Charlan Jeanne (1986): Differential contributions of majority and minority influence.Psychological Review, vol. 93, pp. 23–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Connor, Kathleen M., Gruenfeld, Deborah H. and McGrath, Joseph E. (1993): The experience and effects of conflict in continuing work groups. Special Issue: Time, task, and technology in work groups: The JEMCO Workshop study.Small Group Research, vol. 24, pp. 362–382.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Connor, Kathleen M., and Rhoades, Jonathan A. (1995): Happiness and social perception in team negotiation. Paper presented at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the International Association for Conflict Management, Helsingor, Denmark (June).

  • Petty, Richard E., Schumann, David W., Richman, Steven A. and Strathman, Alan J. (1993): Positive mood and persuasion: Different roles for affect under high- and low- elaboration conditions.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 64, pp. 5–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poole, Marshall Scott, Holmes, Michael and DeSanctis, Gerardine (1991): Conflict management in a computer-supported meeting enviroment.Management Science, vol. 37, pp. 926–953.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rafaeli, Anat and Sutton, Robert I. (1989): The expression of emotion in organizational life.Research in Organizational Behavior, vol. 11, pp. 1–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rook, Karen S., Petromonaco, Paula R. and Lewis, Megan A. (1994): When are dysphoric individuals distressing to others and vice versa? Effects of friendship, similarity, and interaction task.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 67, pp. 548–559.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanislow, Charles A., Perkins, David V. and Balogh, Deborah W. (1989): Mood induction, interpersonal perceptions, and rejection in the roommates of depressed, nondepressed-disturbed, and normal college students.Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, vol. 8, pp. 345–358.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, Norbert, and Clore, Gerald L. (1987):How do I feel about it? The informative function of affective states. In K. Fiedler and J. Forgas (Eds.), Affect, cognition and social behavior. Toronto: Hogrefe International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tversky, Amos, and Kahneman, Daniel (1974): Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases.Science, vol. 185, pp. 1124–1131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walther, Joseph B. (1992): Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction: a relational perspective.Communication Research, vol. 19, pp. 52–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walther, Joseph B., and Burgoon, Judee K. (1992): Relational communication in computer-mediated interaction.Human Communication Research, vol. 19, pp. 5–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wanous, John P., Reichers, Arnon E., Cooper, Christine and Rao, Raghunandan (1994): Effectiveness of problem-solving groups: Process and outcome criteria.Psychological Reports, vol. 75, pp. 1139–1153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, David, Clark, Lee Anne, McIntyre, Curtis W. and Hamaker, Stacy (1992): Affect, personality and social activity.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 63, pp. 1011–1025.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenzlaff, Richard M., Wegner, Daniel M. and Roper, David (1988): Depression and mental control: The resurgence of unwanted negative thoughts.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 55, pp. 882–892.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, Joanne V., Saltzberg, Judith A. and Goldsamt, Lloyd A. (1990): Does affect induce self-focused attention.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 58, pp. 899–908.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 East Daniel Street, 61820, Champaign, IL, USA

    Jonathan A. Rhoades

  2. Department of Psychology, Rice University, 77005-1892, Houston, TX, USA

    Kathleen M. O'Connor

Authors
  1. Jonathan A. Rhoades
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kathleen M. O'Connor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rhoades, J.A., O'Connor, K.M. Affect in computer-mediated and face-to-face work groups: The construction and testing of a general model. Comput Supported Coop Work (CSCW) 4, 203–228 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00749747

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00749747

Key words

Search

Navigation