Student satisfaction with use of an online peer feedback system

Abstract

We contribute to the growing evidence of the positive effect of use of online peer feedback tools on students’ teamwork skills development. We do so by exploring individual and contextual factors underlying satisfaction with using a peer feedback system alongside team projects. Employing path analytical framework and bootstrap methods, we analysed data from an international sample of 100 project teams in management studies. Drawing on procedural justice theory, we theorised and found support that students’ uncertainty avoidance orientation and virtuality in collaboration were positively related to their satisfaction with use of a peer feedback system. Such satisfaction in turn allowed them to be more effective team members. Our findings provide evidence for higher education institutions and instructors considering the adoption of online peer feedback systems alongside teamwork in their curricula. Specifically, peer feedback appears to be effective in the development of teamwork skills and students appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback to their peers in a structured and dedicated environment. Our findings are timely and of important practical significance as educational institutions increasingly rely on the use of computer-mediated technology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords:

• Peer feedback
• uncertainty avoidance
• virtuality
• satisfaction with use of an online peer feedback system

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interests with regard to the research, authorship and publication of this paper.

Funding

This research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant # 435-2016-1530).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Magda B. L. Donia

Magda Donia is an associate professor of Organizational Behavior at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. Her main research interests focus on individual and organisational giving exceeding formal role expectations. At the individual level, she is interested in why employees perform organisational citizenship behaviours and more specifically, in understanding whether different motivations lead to different contributions. At the organisational level, she is interested in the effect of corporate socially responsible actions within the organisation. She is also interested in the research and practice of use of online peer evaluation systems in the development of student teamwork skills in higher education.

Merce Mach, PhD, is currently a Serra Hunter Tenured Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business in the University of Barcelona. She is an international researcher in work teams and cross-cultural management. Her research interests revolve around organizational trust, trust in leadership and project teams, team process and effectiveness, as well as emergent issues of HRM and organizational performance, such as attendance at work and presenteeism.

Tom A. O’Neill, PhD, is the Director of the Individual and Team Performance Lab and Professor/Head of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at the University of Calgary, Canada. He is a global research leader in the areas of high-performance teamwork, virtual team effectiveness, human-autonomy teaming, conflict and conflict management, personality, and assessment. He created ITPmetrics.com for the free evidence-based assessment and development of student teamwork skills during post-secondary education.

Stéphane Brutus is currently the Dean of the Telfer School of Management. Dr. Brutus’ research focuses mainly on feedback processes in organizations and the development of leadership skills in educational settings.