Drawing on the social identity and deindividuation (SIDE) model, and adding insights from research on multiple targets of identification and physical/discursive anonymity, this research examined the relationship between identity and anonymity in the use of computer‐based group decision support systems (GDSSs). Results suggested that identification with all targets was lower in GDSS meetings than it was in general. Additionally, discursively anonymous participants had less identification with their group (especially when also hidden), contributed more total comments, used more expressions with no identifications or disidentifications, and used fewer expressions of multiple identifications than did discursively identified participants. Visually hidden participants also expressed fewer comments indicating identification with their group. Overall, this research extends SIDE (as it relates to anonymity, group communication technologies, and identification with multiple targets) and offers several practical implications to users of GDSSs and similar communication technologies.
Western Journal of Communication
Volume 63, 1999 - Issue 4
![Sample our Communication Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, 2013 & 2014 volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5927/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Information-Science2.jpg"})
Reprints and Corporate Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:
Academic Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:
If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.
Related Research Data
Group and Interpersonal Effects in International Computer-Mediated Collaboration
Source:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Communication practices as unobtrusive control: An observational study
Source:
Informa UK Limited
A Case of Newspaper Journalists
Source:
SAGE Publications
The forest ranger revisited: A study of control practices and identification
Source:
Informa UK Limited
A foundation for the study of group decision support systems
Source:
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
The effects of electronic meetings on group processes and outcomes: An assessment of the empirical research
Source:
Elsevier BV
Anonymity in group support systems research: a new conceptualization, measure, and contingency framework
Source:
Informa UK Limited
A Multimethodological Exploration
Source:
SAGE Publications
Capturing the Complexity in Advanced Technology Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory
Source:
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
The Mediating Effects of Anonymity and Proximity in an Online Synchronized Competitive Learning Environment.
Source:
SAGE Publications
On the various and changing meanings of organizational membership: A field study of organizational identification
Source:
Informa UK Limited
Attribution accuracy when using anonymity in group support systems
Source:
Elsevier BV
Identification in the Self-Managing Organization Characteristics of Target and Tenure
Source:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Coming to terms with organizational identification and commitment
Source:
Informa UK Limited
LOYAL FROM DAY ONE: BIODATA, ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTIFICATION, AND TURNOVER AMONG NEWCOMERS
Source:
Wiley
The equalization phenomenon: status effects in computer-mediated and face-to-face decision-making groups
Source:
Informa UK Limited
Contrasting group and organizational commitment: Evidence for differences among multilevel attachments
Source:
Wiley
Loyalties
Source:
Philosophy Documentation Center
Alumni and their alma mater: A partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification
Source:
Wiley
Dual commitment: Unique construct or epiphenomenon?
Source:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
A Review and Reconceptualization of Organizational Commitment
Source:
Academy of Management
Exploring Corporate Images and Employee Identification
Source:
SAGE Publications
Computer Communication and Organizational Commitment: Tracing the Relationship in a City Government
Source:
Wiley
Computer-based systems for cooperative work and group decision making
Source:
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Special Focus Article
Source:
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
INVOLVEMENT IN COMMUNICATION NETWORKS AS A PREDICTOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
Source:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Group Problem Solving in an Automated Environment: The Effects of Anonymity and Proximity on Group Process and Outcome with a Group Decision Support System.
Source:
Academy of Management
To Reveal or Not to Reveal: A Theoretical Model of Anonymous Communication
Source:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Studies
Source:
SAGE Publications
Communication and Social Identity Theory: Existing and Potential Connections in Organizational Identification Research
Source:
Informa UK Limited
Interaction analysis in GDSS research: description of an experience and some recommendations
Source:
Elsevier BV
Organizational Commitment: One of Many Commitments or Key Mediating Construct?
Source:
Academy of Management
Microlevel Structuration in Computer-Supported Group Decision Making
Source:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Barriers to Deceiving Other Group Members in Virtual Settings
Source:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Employee Responses to Newsletter Identification Inducements at the U.S. Forest Service
Source:
SAGE Publications
Development of a Structurational Model of Identification in the Organization
Source:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Commitment to organizations and occupations: Extension and test of a three-component conceptualization.
Source:
American Psychological Association (APA)
Computer-mediated communication, de-individuation and group decision-making
Source:
Elsevier BV
Organizational Identification and the Symbolic Shaping of Information Communication Technology
Source:
Informa UK Limited
Crossing team boundaries: A theoretical model of team boundary permeability and a discussion of why it matters:
Source:
SAGE Publications
Emerging Conceptual Frameworks and Directions for Research
Source:
SAGE Publications
Communication Technologies in Corporate Settings.
Source:
SAGE Publications
Electronic meeting support: the GroupSystems concept
Source:
Elsevier BV
Identification in Organizations: An Examination of Four Fundamental Questions
Source:
SAGE Publications
Examining Equality of Influence in Group Decision Support System Interaction
Source:
SAGE Publications
Cultural Identity Tensions in a Post-Acquisition Organization A previous version of this paper was presented as a “Top Paper” at the annual convention of the International Communication Association, New Orleans, May 2004.
Source:
Informa UK Limited
The Deindividuating Effects of Anonymity
Source:
SAGE Publications
Social Identity Theory and the Organization
Source:
Academy of Management
Bona Fide Groups: An Alternative Perspective for Communication and Small Group Decision Making
Source:
SAGE Publications, Inc.
On the Study of Technology and Task: A Variable-Based Approach
Source:
SAGE Publications, Inc.
To Identify or Not to Identify: A Theoretical Model of Receiver Responses to Anonymous Communication
Source:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
A Social Influence Model of Technology use
Source:
SAGE Publications, Inc.
Enhancing computer-mediated communication: an experimental investigation into the use of a group decision support system for face-to-face versus remote meetings
Source:
Elsevier BV
Anonymity in Applied Communication Research: Tensions Between IRBs, Researchers, and Human Subjects
Source:
Informa UK Limited
The rhetoric of identification and the study of organizational communication
Source:
Informa UK Limited
Effects of leadership style and anonymity on group potency and effectiveness in a group decision support system environment.
Source:
American Psychological Association (APA)
Self-Consciousness and Social Identity: Self-Regulation as a Group Member
Source:
SAGE Publications
Professional and Organizational Commitment: Compatible or Incompatible?
Source:
Elsevier BV
Keeping An Eye on the Mirror: Image and Identity In Organizational Adaptation
Source:
Academy of Management
Assessing Use and Appropriateness
Source:
SAGE Publications
The Impact of Anonymity on Perceptions of Source Credibility and Influence in Computer-Mediated Group Communication: A Test of Two Competing Hypotheses:
Source:
SAGE Publications
Multiple commitments at work and extrarole behavior during three stages of organizational tenure
Source:
Elsevier BV
Experiments in group decision making, 3: disinhibition, deindividuation, and group process in pen name and real name computer conferences
Source:
Elsevier BV
Understanding the use of Group Decision Support Systems: The Theory of Adaptive Structuration
Source:
SAGE Publications, Inc.
A framework for supporting distributed group decision-making
Source:
Elsevier BV
Organizational images and member identification.
Source:
JSTOR
Identification with Multiple Targets in a Geographically Dispersed Organization.
Source:
SAGE Publications
Dispersed group decision making using nonsimultaneous computer conferencing: a report of research
Source:
Informa UK Limited
Reflections on Anonymity
Source:
SAGE Publications
The Influence of Online Comments on Perceptions of Antimarijuana Public Service Announcements on YouTube
Source:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
1001 Unanswered research questions in GSS
Source:
Informa UK Limited
Linking provided by
