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Although computer mediated communication (CMC) technology has been shown to enhance productivity, increase participation equality, and improve decision quality, these reported increases in performance have not always been accompanied by related increases in meeting satisfaction. Various input-process-output models in the CMC literature have portrayed process losses and process gains as important variables affecting meeting satisfaction. A research model portraying the impact of process losses and process gains upon two dimensions of meeting satisfaction (outcome satisfaction and process satisfaction) is developed and tested. Results indicate that process losses generate negative effects upon both dimensions of meeting satisfaction, but only within identified CMC environments. Within anonymous CMC environments, however, the effect of process losses upon either outcome satisfaction or process satisfaction is negligible. Conversely, process gains generate positive effects upon both outcome and process satisfaction regardless of anonymity levels. These findings suggest that the inconsistencies in research outcomes regarding CMC meeting satisfaction may be resolved if researchers distinguish between outcome satisfaction and process satisfaction as separate dimensions of meeting satisfaction.

Technologies for supporting collaborative work are often developed to improve various aspects of group performance such as idea generation and decision quality; however, less attention has been given to the effects that such technology has upon the nature of group communication. In this article, we examine the phenomena of flaming and comment criticalness in computer-mediated communication as they occur in group support systems (GSS) supported discussions. A 2 X 2 factorial experimental design was used to examine the effects of national culture (U.S. and Hong Kong) and anonymity (identified and anonymous pen name) on the number of comments classified as flames and on the number of comments classified as critical in 39 GSS discussions. Experimental results indicate that both national culture and anonymity influence the number of critical comments occurring in such discussions. However, the findings were not significant with respect to the number of comments categorized as flames.

ABSTRACTParticipation equality, a prominent construct that has received much attention in group decision‐making research, has been studied with both perceptual and objective measures. Yet, research findings regarding participation equality have been inconsistent and equivocal. We argue that one reason for this inconsistency is how participation equality has been conceptualized and measured. In some studies, researchers have theorized and measured participation equality using observed behavior. In other studies, researchers have theorized and measured participation equality using perceptual measures. We conducted an experiment to investigate the similarities and differences between these two measures. Our results indicate that (1) perceived participation equality (PPE) and observed participation equality (OPE) are theoretically separate and distinct constructs that (2) affect and are affected by other constructs in different ways within their nomological network. OPE and PPE were more different than they were similar, sharing only 10.8% of their variance. In other words, perceptions of participation equality were predominantly influenced by factors other than observed behaviors related to participation equality. We believe that these results call for more theory and research regarding the differences between observed behavior and perceptions of behavior in group decision making. As we move into new computer‐mediated communication technologies such as Web Conferencing, Virtual Reality, and Enterprise Social Media that enable new forms of participation, we need to consider what constitutes participation and how new forms of participation should be measured and evaluated. In the large group environments of Enterprise Social Media, the differences between OPE and PPE are likely to become more pronounced.