INFORMATION EXCHANGE IN CONTEXT - EFFECTS OF GENDER COMPOSITION OF GROUP, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND INTERGROUP PERCEPTION ON GROUP DECISION-MAKING

In the present study, the dissemination of shared and unshared informa tion (cf. Stasser & Titus, 1985) in unstructured group discussion is a nalyzed. In previous experiments, several manipulations of the task it self were introduced, in search of conditions that could facilitate th e exchange of unshared information. As such, these studies neglected t he potential impact of context variables on group performance. In the present study, the effects of accountability, intergroup perception, a nd gender composition of group on information exchange are investigate d. The results indicate that heterogeneous groups exchanged more infor mation when a second group was present. Information exchange was not p romoted by the presence of an outgroup for homogeneous groups. Groups in the accountability condition displayed more difficulties to reach a greement, but this did not lead to the mentioning of more information.