The role of information and communication technologies in the relationship between group potency and group maintenance outcomes: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Group potency is one of the major factors influencing work group success. However, little is known about the effects of potency on group maintenance outcomes, especially in virtual teams. The present study examines the moderating role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the relationships between potency and group maintenance outcomes in a longitudinal study. The study involved 44 groups of four members each, working in two communication media: face-to-face (F-t-F) and computer-mediated communication (CMC). The groups developed a project during four weekly sessions over a 1-month period. The results showed that ICTs moderated the relationship between potency and maintenance outcomes (process satisfaction and identification). The positive relationship between potency and maintenance outcomes was stronger in CMC groups than in F-t-F groups. The study has provided useful information that contributes to understanding in which contexts group potency produces the best results. Specifically, ICT appears to be a key moderating variable in the relationships between group potency and group maintenance outcomes.

Keywords:

• group potency
• communication media
• process satisfaction
• group identification

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Spanish Agency of Education and Science (SEJ2005-3107, within the CONSOLIDER Project SEJ2006-14086 and FEDER).

Notes

In the present study, the terms ‘group’ and ‘team’ are used interchangeably and refer to ongoing (semi)-autonomous sets of interdependent members who have a joint responsibility for accomplishing a project (West et al. 1998, De Dreu and Weingart 2003).

Team empowerment includes the following four dimensions: potency, meaningfulness, autonomy and impact (Kirkman and Rosen 1997).