Effects of Anonymity and Social Comparison of Rewards on Computer-Mediated Group Brainstorming

Abstract

Anonymity in computer-mediated communication (CMC) is valued in organizations because it can facilitate participation in discussions, especially of sensitive issues. Concerns over maintaining the motivation to participate in such discussions, because of the inability to reward people for their contributions, have led to the development of techniques that allow rewards to be allocated without identifying their distributors and recipients. It was hypothesized, however, that anonymous rewards are not equivalent to identified rewards in the ability to motivate people. Results from a laboratory experiment using a group electronic brainstorming task supported this hypothesis. Task effort was higher when reward recipients were identified than when they were anonymous; comparing rewards further increased the effects of identification. Identification combined with comparison increased task effort slightly more for recipients of the middle level than the top or bottom levels of rewards. Negligible effects were found for idea quality. Implications are discussed for anonymity, comparison targets, task structure, and the intersection of technical and social factors in organizations.

Behavior‒Output Control Theory, Trust and Social Loafing in Virtual Teams

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