The Impact of Group Size and Proportion of Shared Information on the Exchange and Integration of Information in Groups

Abstract

Hidden profiles exist when individual group members hold all the information favoring one decision alternative but only a subset of the information favoring another alternative. Given a hidden profile, group members often fail to exchange information completely and consequently make poor decisions. Circumstances in which groups perform poorly are worrisome because groups frequently are asked to make decisions. Conditions that improve group performance on hidden profiles were sought. Group information sharing and decision-making effectiveness were found to be higher in small groups with a low percentage of shared information, and lower when groups either were large or shared a high percentage of information (N = 80 groups). Greater information sharing, however, did not correlate with longer discussions. The proportion of shared information affected bolstering and discounting of information. Qualitative observations of group behavior are presented, and the implications of the results for information sharing and decision making are discussed.