Slide 1© Ned Kock

The E-Collaboration Paradox:Evidence from Two Empirical

Studies

Ned Kock

Slide 2© Ned Kock

The e-collaboration paradox

• Media naturalness proposition– The less face-to-face-like a medium is, the more

obstacles exist for effective communication.

• Compensatory adaptation proposition– Often individuals avoid using “unnatural”

media, but, if they decide to use them, those individuals compensate for the communication obstacles posed by the media.

Slide 3© Ned Kock

Study 1

An Experimental Study of 20 Process Redesign Dyads

Analysis Method Used: Comparison of Means (ANOVA & Mann-Whitney U

Tests)

Slide 4© Ned Kock

Participants

• The research study involved subjects with substantial hands-on experience in process redesign in the defense sector, recruited from management and engineering ranks of a large defense contractor.

• Their ages ranged from 23 to 60, with a mean age of 35. Fifty-nine percent of the subjects were males.

Slide 5© Ned Kock

Treatment conditions• The subjects were randomly assigned to dyads and to

communication media conditions. • Each dyad completed two similar process redesign-

related tasks using different communication media for each task.

• Half of the dyads (i.e., 10 dyads) completed one of the tasks face-to-face while the other half completed the same task electronically.

• After this, all dyads moved on to the next task, using different media than they had used in the previous task – that is, the dyads previously interacting face-to-face now interacted electronically and vice-versa.

Slide 6© Ned Kock

Electronic communication medium

• A set of Web-based threaded online discussion boards created the electronic communication media employed in the experiment.

• The online discussion boards were developed using Microsoft Frontpage 2000 and Active Server Pages.

• They were used in a quasi-synchronous manner – i.e., they were “refreshed” at short time intervals, creating an online chat-like environment where the discussions were threaded.

• One Web-based online discussion board was created for each dyad. All online discussion boards were identical.

Slide 7© Ned Kock

Variables and measures

• Cognitive effort– Measured based on NASA’s task load index (a.k.a.

NASA-TLX) developed by Hart and colleagues (Hart and Staveland, 1988).

• Communication ambiguity– Measured based on an instrument previously developed

and validated by Kock (2001), answered on a 1 to 7 Likert-type scale.

• Message preparation– Measured based on an instrument previously developed

and validated by Kock (2001), answered on a 1 to 7 Likert-type scale.

Slide 8© Ned Kock

Variables and measures

Slide 9© Ned Kock

Variables and measures

• Fluency– Measured by counting the number of words exchanged

by the members of the dyads and dividing it by the number of minutes each dyad took to complete the task (Kock, 1998).

• Task outcome quality– Measured by comparing the process sketches generated

by the dyad members with “correct” models (Kock and Murphy, 2001). Two different coders generated “similarity scores” used to assess task outcome quality independently.

Slide 10© Ned Kock

Results

Variable Mean face-to-face

St. dev. face-to-face

Mean electronic

St. dev. electronic

F p

Cognitive effort

55.01 20.23 77.76 25.12 9.94 < .01

Communication ambiguity

2.47 1.55 4.44 2.00 12.11 < .01

Message preparation

2.99 1.78 4.41 1.79 6.34 < .05

Task outcome quality

4.06 1.69 3.91 1.61 .09 .77

Table 1a: Descriptive statistics and one-way MANOVA results for all variables but fluency

Variable Mean

face-to-face St. dev. face-to-face

Mean electronic

St. dev. electronic

Z p

Fluency

71.01 15.75 16.58 5.93 -2.83 < .01

Table 1b: Descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U test results in connection with fluency

Slide 11© Ned Kock

Results

0 2 4 6 8

Electronic

Face-to-face

Slide 12© Ned Kock

Results

– The results suggest that the use of an e-collaboration tool, when compared with the face-to-face medium, increased perceived cognitive effort by about 41%, perceived communication ambiguity by about 80%, and perceived message preparation by about 47%, while at the same time reducing fluency by approximately 77%.

– The study also suggests that the use of the e-collaboration tool had no significant impact on the quality of the outcomes generated by the dyads.

Slide 13© Ned Kock

Conclusion

• The study supports the e-collaboration paradox notion– Media naturalness proposition

• The less face-to-face-like a medium is, the more obstacles exist for effective communication – obsv. cognitive effort, communication ambiguity.

– Compensatory adaptation proposition• Often individuals avoid using “unnatural” media, but, if they

decide to use them, those individuals compensate for the communication obstacles posed by the media – obsv. message preparation, fluency, task outcomes.

Slide 14© Ned Kock

Study 2

An Survey Study of 290 New Product Development Teams

Analysis Method Used: Structural Equation Modeling (PLS)

Slide 15© Ned Kock

Participants

• Contact persons in a variety of technology-based companies in the Northeastern USA were selected to participate in the study.

• To be included in this study, each company must have developed a product that had been launched into the marketplace and commercialized for at least six months.

• Data from 290 new product development projects in 66 companies were obtained.

Slide 16© Ned Kock

Research instrument

• A questionnaire developed based on previous research on NPD teams (Kessler and Chakrabarti, 1999; Lynn et al 2000) was used.

• All constructs in the study were measured using multiple-item scales, which in turn were Likert-type scales (0 = “Strongly Disagree” to 10 = “Strongly Agree”).

Slide 17© Ned Kock

Constructs and measures

Slide 18© Ned Kock

Constructs and measures

Slide 19© Ned Kock

Structural model

Electronic communication

use

Team efficiency

Team effectiveness

Procedural structuring

H1 (neutral)

H2(neutral)

H3(positive)

H5(positive)

H4(positive)

H6(positive)

Slide 20© Ned Kock

Results

Notes: T values were calculated through the bootstrapping method; * Significant at p < .001 in a one-tailed test

Electronic communication

use

Team efficiency

Team effectiveness

Procedural structuring

H1 (β=-.009)

H2(β=.102)

H3(β=.351)*

H5(β=.090)

H4(β=.460)*

H6(β=.488)*

R2=.123

R2=.226

R2=.315

Slide 21© Ned Kock

Conclusion

• The study supports the e-collaboration paradox notion– Media naturalness proposition

• The use of electronic communication (as opposed to the face-to-face medium) induces procedural structuring, which suggests an attempt (through procedural structuring) to compensate for media obstacles.

– Compensatory adaptation proposition• Procedural structuring has a stronger effect on task outcome

variables than electronic communication use, as individuals compensate (or perhaps overcompensate) for the communication obstacles posed by the electronic communication media.

Slide 22© Ned Kock

Implications

• Development of e-collaboration tools in situations where compensatory adaptation is:– Desirable and unhindered– Desirable but hindered (e.g., cognitive fatigue

situations)– Undesirable (e.g., entertainment-related B2C

situations)

Slide 23© Ned Kock

Key references

• Kock, N. (2004), The Psychobiological Model: Toward a New Theory of Computer-mediated Communication Based on Darwinian Evolution, Organization Science, V.15, No.3, pp. 327-348.

• Kock, N. (2001), Compensatory Adaptation to a Lean Medium: An Action Research Investigation of Electronic Communication in Process Improvement Groups, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, V.44, No.4, pp. 267-285.

• Kock, N. (1998), Can Communication Medium Limitations Foster Better Group Outcomes? An Action Research Study, Information & Management, V.34, No.5, pp. 295-305.

Final slide

Available from: http://www.tamiu.edu/~nedkock/

Slide 24© Ned Kock

Emergence of the genus Australopithecine,e.g., Australopithecus afarensis and africanus.

Emergence of genus Homo, e.g., Homo habilis and erectus.

Emergence of early Homo sapiens grades, e.g., Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.

Emergence of modern humans, i.e., Homo sapiens sapiens, about 100,000 years ago.

FtF communication through facial expressions and simple sounds.

FtF communication through rudimentary speech.

FtF communication through complex speech.

Early development of symbolic communication artifacts, e.g., cave paintings, about 30,000 years ago.

Slide 25© Ned KockE-communication behavior theories

Slide 26© Ned KockE-communication behavior theories (contd. 1)

Slide 27© Ned KockE-communication behavior theories (contd. 2)

Slide 28© Ned Kock

E-communication behavior theories (contd. 3)