Some things are better left unseen: Toward more effective communication and team performance in video-mediated interactions

By default, most video-mediated communication systems show the user his or her own video feed, yet there is no prior research to show if this helps or hinders communication. In general, virtual teams desire richer media to improve team interaction. However, in this case more information may not be helpful. Drawing on Objective Self Awareness theory in social psychology and theories of cognitive overload from communication, hypotheses are proposed concerning how viewing oneself influences virtual team interaction. It is argued that viewing oneself will lead to lower team performance and other negative outcomes. The hypotheses are tested in a laboratory experiment, manipulating whether participants were able to view their own feeds during video-mediated communication. The results suggest that viewing oneself leads to a reduction in team performance and individual satisfaction. The findings, in terms of several theoretical explanations, and implications for managers and systems designers are discussed in the paper. •Studied effects of video-mediation design features on virtual team performance.•Changing whether users could see their own video feeds or not affected performance.•Teams performed significantly better when individuals could not see their own feeds.•Individuals were more satisfied when they did not see their own video feeds.•Video communication systems should include functionality to disable self-viewing.