This study explores the effects of group size, group composition, and group argument frequency on group cognitive complexity (GCC). We evaluated a sample of 509 students organized into 106 groups who participated in a group cognitive mapping activity. As hypothesized, we found that group argumentation has an inverted U-shaped association with GCC. Group member familiarity did not moderate this relationship. We also found that task-related arguments mediate the relationships between group size and gender diversity on one hand, and GCC, on the other. Moreover, we found that optimal group-level cognitive benefits were observed in group discussions in which the ratio between task-related and nontask-related group arguments was 3 to 1. The discussion focuses on the practical and theoretical implications of these findings.
In: Birdi, Kamal and Griffiths, Kerry and Turgoosea, Christine and Alsina, Victòria and Andrei, Daniela and Băban, Adriana and Bayerl P., Saskia and Bisogni, Fabio and Chirică, Sofia and Costanzo, Pietro and Fernández, Charlotte and Ficet, Joël and Gascó, Mila and Gruschinske, Mario and Horton, Kate and Jacobs, Gabriele and Jochoms, Theo and Krstevska, Katerina and Mirceva, Stojanka and Mouhanna, Christian and van den Oord, Ad and Oțoiu, Cătălina and Rajkovcevski, Rade and Rațiu, Lucia and Reguli, Zdenko and Rus, Claudia and Stein-Müller, Susanne and Stojanovski, Trpe and Vallet, Nathalie and Varga, Mihai and Vít, Michal and Vonaș, Gabriel (2020) FACTORS INFLUENCING CROSS-BORDER KNOWLEDGE SHARING BY POLICE ORGANISATIONS: AN INTEGRATION OF TEN EUROPEAN CASE STUDIES. Police Practice and Research - An International Journal. ISSN Print ISSN: 1561-4263 Online ISSN: 1477-271X
The globalisation of crime means there is an increasingly vital need for effective sharing of knowledge by police organisations across international borders. However, identifying the complexities and challenges of this aspect of international collaboration has been relatively neglected in previous research. The research reported in this paper therefore set out to identify the major barriers and facilitators of international knowledge sharing. Research teams in ten European countries produced ten case studies of knowledge sharing across borders, either involving direct cooperation between police forces in different countries or through international agencies such as CEPOL or INTERPOL. The integrative findings showed that the major influences on knowledge sharing could be theoretically categorised in terms of organisational factors (e.g., technological and staff capabilities), inter-organisational factors (e.g., quality of relationships, shared visions and systems), inter-country factors (e.g., bilateral conventions, legislation) and knowledge characteristics (e.g., clarity, legal sensitivity). Practical implications include standardising technology systems across countries, improving inter-organisational trust through exchanges and physical co-working, developing police members' knowledge and skills with regards to collaborative working and creating joint agreements and visions. Research implications highlighted the need to test the findings in non-European contexts and to comparatively focus on specific types of collaboration.
