Not As Smart As We Think: A Study of Collective Intelligence in Virtual Groups

Abstract

Organizations increasingly use virtual groups for many types of work, yet little research has examined factors that make groups perform better across multiple different types of tasks. Previous research has proposed that groups, like individuals, have a general factor of collective intelligence, an ability to perform consistently across multiple types of tasks. We studied groups that used computer-mediated communication (CMC) to investigate whether collective intelligence is similar or different when groups work using CMC. A collective intelligence factor did not emerge among groups using CMC, suggesting that collective intelligence manifests itself differently depending on context. This is in contrast to previous findings. Our results surface a need for more research on boundary conditions of the construct of collective intelligence. Our findings also have practical implications: managers should take care when organizing virtual group work because groups that perform well on one type of task will not necessarily be the groups that do well on other tasks

Key words and phrases:

• collective intelligence
• computer-mediated communication
• group performance
• intelligence
• task types
• virtual groups

Notes

1. As a comparison, the average age in the Woolley et al. [80] studies was in the twenties. Woolley et al.’s Study 1 had 120 participants, whose average age was 32. Woolley et al.’s Study 2 had 579 participants; the average age of the Boston participants was 29 and the average age of the Pittsburgh participants was 23. Woolley et al. do not list how many participants were in Boston and how many were in Pittsburgh. Engel et al. did not report age of participants in their studies. For comparison of gender distribution, see Table 3.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jordan B. Barlow

Jordan B. Barlow ([email protected]) is an assistant professor in the Information Systems & Decision Sciences Department at California State University, Fullerton. He received his Ph.D. from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. His main research interests are collaboration (collective intelligence, computer-mediated communication, and virtual group work) and behavioral information systems security. He has published in MIS Quarterly, Journal of the AIS, Computers and Security, Group Decision and Negotiation, and Communications of the AIS.

Alan R. Dennis

Alan R. Dennis ([email protected]; corresponding author) is a professor of information systems and holds the John T. Chambers Chair of Internet Systems in the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. His research focuses on three main themes: team collaboration; information technology (IT) for the subconscious; and gamification. He has written more than 150 research papers and four books, and has won numerous awards for his theoretical and applied research. He is a fellow of the Association for Information Systems and editor in chief of AIS Transactions on Replication Research. He has also cofounded six IT start-up companies.