Abstract

Collective memory is an active research area and researchers have focused on several social psychological perspective of collective memory. A form of collective memory is organizational memory that has emerged as a topic of considerable importance in recent years. Significant work has been appearing about how information technology (IT) can enable and support organizational memory systems to be developed that, in turn, facilitate organizational learning. However, much of the existing work on this area is conceptual or theoretical with very little empirical examination. In this research we discuss how a hypermedia-based prototype of collective memory, was used in a controlled experiment to investigate empirical validity of the consequential effects of using memory support on cognitive-conflict type of decisions. The results indicate that the use of collective memory information provides the study participants focused attention on the cognitive-conflict task domain and leads to faster decision-making. The results also indicate that there may be a potential for collective memory support to lead to encased learning. However, the results do not manifest any effect of collective memory on the perceived decision quality. Implications for research and practice and directions for future research are discussed. A revised, more robust but also more complex model derived from the results of the study is proposed for future research and validation.

Author Keywords: Collective memory; Organizational memory; Group memory; Decision analysis; Decision-making efficiency; Decision-making process; Cognitive-conflict tasks; Decision-making speed; Thoroughness in decision-making

Article Outline

1. Introduction

2. Research framework

2.1. The collective memory

2.2. Group/collective memory in group work and cognitive-conflict tasks

2.3. Influence of collective memory on cognitive-conflict outcome variables

2.4. Study hypothesis

2.4.1. Group agreement

2.4.2. Speed of decision-making

2.4.3. Thoroughness of task analysis

2.4.4. Perceived decision quality

3. Research design

3.1. Choice of research type and setting

3.2. The cognitive-conflict task

3.3. The prototype

3.4. The nature of experiment

3.5. Operationalization of variables

3.6. The experiment

4. Study results

4.1. Reliability and validity issues

4.2. Analysis of the profile of participants

4.3. Hypothesis testing

4.3.1. H₁: Degree of group agreement

4.3.2. H₂: Speed of group decision-making

4.3.3. H₃: Thoroughness in task analysis

4.3.4. H₄: Perceived decision quality

5. Conclusions

5.1. Implications for practice

5.2. Limitations of the research

5.3. Implications for research and future directions

Appendix A. List of 18 attributes for MBA admission (as used in the prototype)

Appendix B. Indicator items for perceived decision quality

Appendix C. Experimental procedure

References

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