An Experimental Study of the Attention-based View of Idea Integration: The Need for a Multi-level Dependent Variable

Decision making involves creating a rationale for supporting a choice. Groups make many decisions that require individual members to interact and collaborate with one another. High-quality decisions require that group members pay attention to different perspectives on the decision topic, process diverse or even opposing ideas, and combine (i.e., integrate) those ideas into coherent arguments. Despite the availability of information systems (IS), such as electronic brainstorming systems (EBS), to support group decision making, researchers have relatively understudied their role in idea integration. In this paper, we focus on the role of IS user interface design in idea integration. Applying an attention-based view of idea integration, we present a model and subsequent experimental study to explore the interaction between idea visibility, prioritization, and idea integration and the moderating effects of information diversity and group size. While our results generally support the attention-based view, they also identify the need to refine the dependent variable and distinguish between different types of idea integration. The findings have implications for electronically enabled brainstorming and group decision making.