How to Boost Group Creative Performance in Times of COVID-19 A field experiment using schema-violation in order to mitigate the effect of Zoom fatigue thereby fostering Group creative performance in an online co-creation environment
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2021-06-23
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en
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The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 resulted in a significant rise in telecommunication as working remotely was required in order to prevent the transmission of the virus. The use of video conferencing services such as Zoom, WebEx and Microsoft Teams increased enormously in order to pursue daily business operations. However, it soon became clear that telecommunication cannot be equaled to face-to-face communication as people started to feel a certain virtual haze, also referred to as ‘Zoom fatigue’. The phenomenon of Zoom fatigue is especially a problem for more interactive meetings such as innovation co-creation processes where the participation of many participants at the same time is desirable. Hence, the study at hand investigated what can be done to mitigate the negative effects of Zoom fatigue thereby spark Group creative performance, specifically divergent thinking, in co-creation sessions. Theoretical research revealed that the use of a schema-violating stimulus could have the potential to mitigate the effect of Zoom fatigue on Group creative performance as it proved to interrupt one’s cognitive structures and therefore enhance cognitive thinking, making people more present, active and creative. Therefore, the addition of a schema-violating stimulus to the virtual meeting was expected to mitigate the negative effects of Zoom fatigue on Group Creative Performance. To test the hypothesis, a field experiment was performed. No significant effects of the schema-violation occurred under both the conditions of low and high Zoom fatigue. However, the data showed a positive tendency of the stimulus for participants that experienced relatively high Zoom fatigue. Furthermore, the study at hand revealed that the effect of high Awareness of expression on Group creative performance in the stimulus condition was significantly more positive compared to the effect of high Awareness of expression on Group creative performance in the no-stimulus condition. These findings contribute to the understanding of Zoom fatigue and provide more insights for further research on the topic.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen