Past research has demonstrated that individual and group judgments are subject to systematic
biases. Although much effort has been devoted to the debiasing of individual judgments, no
corresponding work to date has been found on the debiasing of group judgments. Complicating
this research gap is the fact that group and team work is gaining increasing importance in
organizational settings. The current study examines the usefulness of group support systems
(GSS) in addressing two important judgment biases, namely, representativeness bias and
availability bias. Representativeness bias refers to the bias incurred in posterior-probability
estimation by not properly utilizing information sources such as base rate. Availability bias
occurs when events of higher availability to the memory are correspondingly judged as occurring
more frequently.
The formation of a judgment is seen from the perspective of an information integration process.
Two orthogonal dimensions of information integration -- interpersonal and intrapersonal -- are
involved in group judgments. Interpersonal information integration concerns the aspect of
information sharing among group members, and can be supported with the electronic
communication channel of GSS. Intrapersonal information integration deals with the information
processing capacities and capabilities of individuals, and is supportable using cognitive-support
tools of GSS.
A laboratory experiment with a 2x2 factorial design was conducted. One hundred and twenty
subjects took part in the experiment. They were randomly allocated to 40 groups. Two
experimental tasks, designed to examine the two judgment biases of interest, were solved by
each group. Data pertaining to both processes and outcomes were collected and analyzed.
Representativeness bias was reduced by the use of cognitive support, in the form of a problem
representation tool. Groups with the problem representation tool made fewer references to
diagnostic information versus base rate, leading to the use of more correct strategies which
combined these two information sources. The use of the problem representation tool was found to be responsible for causing this chain of events. On the other hand, electronic communication
did not lead to a similar change in the pattern of group processes, and, correspondingly, did not
reduce the representativeness bias. Although electronic communication is capable of improving
the interpersonal aspect of information integration, the representativeness bias is primarily a
result of cognitive limitations, and benefits little from improved communication among group
members.
Availability bias was reduced by both cognitive support and communication support. Cognitive
support, in the form of electronic brainstorming, increased the information search scope of
issues, especially those issues of relatively low availability to the memory. Electronic
communication allows parallel input and has a lower social presence than verbal communication.
These features helped to reduce the extent of groupthink and widened the range of alternative
solutions proposed.
Some interaction effects were observed on group members’ perceptions of the group process.
For example, communication medium had an effect on group members’ satisfaction in groups
without cognitive support, but not those with cognitive support. Correspondingly, cognitive
support affected some perceptual variables in verbally-communicating groups, but not
electronically-communicating groups. Examples of such effects include an increase in perceived
socio-emotional behavior and perceived informal leadership.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8852 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Lim, Lai-Huat |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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