Impact of temporal extension, synchronicity, and group size on computer-supported information exchange

People’s willingness to contribute information they have in a situation of computer-supported information exchange is influenced by the configuration of various circumstantial aspects. People’s perception and their behavior depend on how long the period of cooperation persists, on whether the information exchange takes place synchronously or asynchronously, and on how large the cooperating group is. In this article an experimental laboratory study is presented which investigated a prototypical situation of computer-supported information exchange. The study examined the impact of those three factors: temporal extension, (a)synchronicity, and group size. With respect to each of these variables, mediating influential psychological factors were considered. In a temporally extended information exchange dilemma people’s contribution behavior did not differ from that in a short-term setting. In an extended cooperation situation participants showed decreasing cooperation behavior just as in previous studies with short-time settings. However, participants who highly identified with the group remained equally cooperative throughout the whole experiment. In asynchronous information exchange the contribution rate was lower than in synchronous groups. Increased group size did not influence contribution behavior negatively in the information exchange dilemma. However, in a small group, participants’ perceived influence was higher than in a large group and people who perceive high influence tended to be more cooperative than people who perceive low influence.