Task as a moderator for the effects of group support systems on group influence processes

Abstract

This research studied the interacting effects of group support systems (GSS) and task type on small groups. It focused on group influence processes rather than group outcomes, which has been largely neglected in GSS research literature. The results of this research indicated that GSS significantly affected group influence processes: GSS reduced the dominance significance (i.e., the influence dominance) among group members; and it increased the amount of influence behaviour and resulted in a less even influence distribution in intellective task groups, but not in decision-making task groups. Therefore, the findings suggest that task type may play an important role in moderating the GSS effects. An important implication of the findings is that organizational GSS users should be careful when they adopt and use GSS to support a variety of tasks. They should carefully examine the characteristics of the various tasks to be performed, and then choose suitable GSS structures to support these tasks. © 1997 Operational Research Society Ltd. All rights reserved.