The Normative Influence Theory

Huang WW, Wei KK. An Empirical Investigation of the Effects of Group Support Systems ( GSS ) and Task Type on Group Interactions from an Influence Perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems. 2000;17(2):181-206.

In class last time we talked about how 40% of interaction is off task. I was really interested in that so I looked up the article from the citations. Interestingly the article only made reference to another article that made the claim. However, I started to read the article and found an interesting paragraph.

"The normative influence theory posits that human beings often need to seek approval and a sense of belonging, and the aim in human social relations is for harmony and communality. There are generally four sources of normative influence: dominance, majority power, persuasiveness, and hierarchy status [19]. Informational influence theory assumes the centrality of being correct, of knowing and understanding the world, and therefore of needing and processing factual information. Sources of informational influence include factual information sharing [55], factual and task messages/rationales/ arguments [57, 67]. Hence, normative influence theory seems to focus more on interpersonal relationships whereas informational influence theory emphasizes more the exchange of factual information and the search for task truth, which conceptually corresponds to the main characteristics of social and task interactions respectively."

This supports our categorization of the nature of interaction. I was also thinking that their description of the normative influence theory supports the use of high fidelity interaction. I also feel that it can help explain the "energy" of a conversation.

Funny. I just wrote this and then as I kept reading I found this paragraph:

"In group interactions, conflict resulting from different values and preferences would
be better resolved in FtF talks with multiple social cues. For example, personal pref- erences can be better expressed simultaneously in the tone, speed, and content of verbal statements, and in the facial expression and gesture of nonverbal behaviors. However, the tone and speed of verbal statements and the facial expression and ges- ture of nonverbal behaviors do not exist within the electronic communication channel of a GSS. Only the content of verbal statements can be communicated in the form of electronically written messages. Hence many social cues are reduced or eliminated in GSS electronic communication [53, 91, 93, 99], which would in turn hinder the ex- change and understanding of personal preferences and values."