Communication During Resource Dilemmas: 1. Effects of Different Replenishment Rates

Abstract

A resource dilemma is a circumstance in which an aggregate of people share a slowly replenishing “resource pool” out of which each person can “harvest” a significant amount at any time. In the first study in which the content of relevant discussion is analyzed, participants experienced an experimental simulation of a resource dilemma with either of two replenishment rates. As hypothesized, the higher replenishment rate, in comparison to the lower, was associated with larger total harvests, less variation among participants in points harvested, more positive participant judgments of their experience, and a greater proportion of types of communication content related with successful performance.

Keywords:

• Small Group Discussion
• Resource Dilemma
• Content Analysis

The data reported herein were collected when the first author was a visiting associate professor at the Department of Communication, University of Maryland, and the first author would like to thank Ed Fink, Jennifer Garst, Leah Waks, Tony Wainwright, and most of all Deb Cai for making the data collection possible. All of the authors would also like to thank Ashley Robey for unitizing the transcripts.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charles Pavitt

Charles Pavitt is a professor in the Department of Communication, University of Delaware, Newark

Courtney McFeeters

Courtney McFeeters is a graduate of that program

Erin Towey

Erin Towey is a graduate of that program

Vera Zingerman

Vera Zingerman is a graduate of that program