ABSTRACT:

One aspect of group processing that has largely been unexplored in the group decision support systems (GDSS) and multi-auditor decision-making literature is the potential for group interaction to enhance participant learning. Research in education has established that cooperative work can have a beneficial effect on learning. However, drawbacks inherent in face-to-face meetings, such as personality conflicts, dominant individuals and distractive comments, can have a detrimental effect on individual members' learning. Since GDSS technology facilitates anonymous interaction and provides a structured environment where group members can focus on the problem-solving task, GDSS-mediated work can potentially result in enhanced learning relative to face-to-face work.

This article reports the results of a study that examined the effects of GDSS on learning in cooperative work environments. The extent of participant learning was compared across three environments: (1) individuals working independently, (2) individuals working in a face-to-face meeting environment, and (3) individuals working in a GDSS-mediated environment. In a pre-test, student subjects individually performed a task relating to the evaluation of a hypothetical client's internal control structure. Subjects then attempted to solve a second internal control evaluation problem in one of the three experimental environments. Upon completion of the second task, a post-test was conducted in which the students updated their solution to the pre-test problem in light of what they had learned about internal controls while solving the second problem. The results revealed that subjects who worked in GDSS-mediated groups learned significantly more than subjects who worked in face-to-face groups or those that worked individually. There was virtually no difference in the extent of learning exhibited by subjects who worked in face-to-face groups or who worked individually.