The influence of the shared-display configuration on group decision making

• We tested the impact of shared display configurations on group decision making.
• Submission control has a positive impact on group participation and satisfaction.
• The need for integrating information from different displays should be minimized.

Large shared displays are increasingly being used to support co-located group decision-making tasks. The expectation is that they can provide a shared visual reference and facilitate interaction between decision makers. This study examined the impact of shared-display configurations on group decision-making processes and outcomes. Three design factors were examined: submission control, display control, and presenting predictions on shared displays. Sixty-four participants performed an optimization task in groups of four members that were supported by different shared-display systems. The results show that submission control has a positive impact on the level of participation, the satisfaction with the group process, and the commitment to the decisions made, but it negatively influences the decision quality; presenting predictive information on the shared display, which is separated from the current information on the personal displays, has a negative impact on the group process and decision quality. In addition, the participants tend to always display all of the information that is available on the screen, in spite of the provision of the display control option.Relevance to industryHow group members can control the content on the shared displays and on their personal displays would influence the group behavior. Gained knowledge from this study is useful for designing and configuring shared-display systems for better group decision-making support.