A comprehensive empirical investigation of the relationships among variables of the groupthink model

Although a quarter of a century has passed since Janis proposed his groupth ink model in 1972, there is very little consensus among researchers on the validity of the model. This study conducted a comprehensive empirical inves tigation of Janis's model by including all 24 variables in the research. Da ta were collected from 64 four-person ad hoc groups; the group discussion s essions were videotaped and content-analysed afterwards. Statistical analys es revealed that Janis's predictions about the causal relationship among fo ur groups of variables in the model are only partially correct; when the ef fects of individual independent variables on the dependent variables were t ested, Janis's predictions were confirmed in only two out of 23 cases. Copy right (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.