Browse Theses

The advent of the information superhighway, advances in information technology, and a recent shift in management philosophies toward advocating teamwork have created important new possibilities for computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW). CSCW occurs when teams of individuals use computer and communications technologies to work together on group projects. Advances in information technology appear to help people realize higher levels of productivity while engaged in group projects.

For the purposes of this research, collaborative work means the activities performed by a group of people, working on the same sets of project goals. In the process, they engage in communications and information sharing through face-to-face and electronic CSCW interaction. Information technologies designed to facilitate CSCW have brought about organizational changes and have had significant social and cognitive effects on people using these tools. Individuals and groups using CSCW are an important area for potential research, as these persons are the ones who ultimately adopt, utilize, and express satisfaction or dissatisfaction with this type of information technology.

While some research has been conducted on various aspects of CSCW, none appears specifically to identify the psychological and cognitive characteristics related to the utilization of CSCW applications. This is not an easy task. Operationally, the effective use of this type of information technology involves a complex array of interdependent variables. These variables may include certain technological characteristics of the systems themselves, individual cognitive characteristics, and the individual dynamics of team work.

This research employed a field study of a group of graduate students engaged in computer-supported collaborative work to examine the influences of personality attributes and learning styles on their utilization of the information technology. Utilization was examined in relation to a personality type indicator and a learning style inventory. The results showed no statistically demonstrable relationship between variables. Further research should examine additional personality and other unaddressed variables to explore their effectiveness in predicting CSCW utilization.