Title: The effectiveness of virtual facilitation for supporting group decision-making

Authors: Harold J. Lagroue III

Addresses: B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, PO Box 52377, Lafayette, LA 70505, USA

Abstract: This study examines the effectiveness of virtual facilitation (system-directed multi-modal user support) for supporting structured group decision-making. A multi-modal application for automating the facilitation process for a group decision support system is used to compare decision-making efficiency and decision quality of human-facilitated groups vs. groups using virtual facilitation, in an experiment involving auditors and IT security professionals as participants. The results of the research indicate that groups receiving virtual facilitation were not significantly different from human-facilitated groups in the areas of decision-making efficiency and decision quality.

Keywords: decisional guidance; facilitation; GDDS; group decision making; decision support systems; group DSS; virtual facilitation; multi-modal user support; system-directed user support; auditors; IT professionals; information technology; security; decision quality; efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIDS.2008.022293

International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, 2008 Vol.1 No.2, pp.164 - 177

Published online: 27 Dec 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article