Abstract. Innovative approaches such as the use of technology in negotiations raise questions of how technology interacts with the manifold contextual factors that play a role in negotiations. In this article, we introduce a theoretical framework that seeks to inform the design of Negotiation Support Systems (NSS) by focusing on two antecedents of negotiation success. On the one hand, we argue that NSS should stimulate a common (cultural) identity among the individual negotiators, a strong predictor of integrative agreements in prior research. On the other hand, NSS should seek to provide information in order to develop shared cognition among negotiators. Negotiators ’ perceptions of the problem at hand and possible solutions often diverge significantly as a consequence of their different knowledge and motives. In this article, we report some experimental support for this framework. We conclude that shared identity and shared cognition are relatively powerful predictors of outcomes of international negotiations, and that minimal variations in the configuration of an NSS can have strong effects on these results.

Distributed teams are increasingly common in today's workplace. For these teams, face-to-face meetings where members can most easily build trust are rare and often costprohibitive. 3D virtual worlds and games may provide an alternate means for encouraging team development due to their affordances for facile communication, emotional engagement, and social interaction among participants. Using principles derived from social psychological theory, we have designed and built a collection of team-building games within the popular virtual world Second Life. We detail here the design decisions made in the creation of these games and discuss how they evolved based on early participant observations. Categories and Subject Descriptors

The present paper tries to overcome the dualism of group-level vs. individualistic analysis of small group processes, by presenting a model of social identity formation that incorporates factors at both levels of analysis as well as their interaction. On the basis of prior theorising in the social identity tradition and a programme of research spanning several interactive group research paradigms, we suggest that within small groups a social identity can operate as a contextual given, which shapes the behaviour of individuals within the group, as much as the behaviour of individuals within the group can shape social identity. This proposal is supported by a programme of research into social influence within small interactive groups. This research explores deductive (top-down) processes through which existing identities influence group processes, but also shows a reciprocal influence through which intragroup discussion creates a sense of group identity in the apparent absence of any direct intergroup comparison (an inductive, or bottom-up, path). It is the interaction between these two forces that we believe is characteristic of the way in which small groups achieve a sense of social identity. Supporting this view, we describe research that suggests that processes of identity formation play a key role in decision making, productive collaboration, consensualisation, integrative negotiations, and the development of shared cognition. Under certain given circumstances [...] an agglomeration of men presents new characteristics very different from those of the individuals composing it. The sentiments of all the persons in the gathering take one and the same direction, and their conscious personality vanishes.

To support social interactions characterizing most activities in virtual communities, system design needs to go beyond functional and user-friendliness requirements to incorporate the demands for supporting social environments and activities. Social presence, as a subjective nature of communication media, reflects the perception of social actors as well as social settings and has been regarded as one of the major design principles for virtual communities. Our study explores its potential in facilitating the social identification process and promoting community participation. Drawing upon the social identity theory, we develop a model explaining the effects of social presence on social identification and community participation. An empirical study involving 430 members from four different virtual communities of interest provide strong support for our model. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Virtual communities provide an important venue for knowledge sharing. Prior research has demonstrated that both system design factors, e.g., social presence, and social aspects of VC, e.g., social identity, are critical for encouraging knowledge contribution. However, we still lack a good understanding of how the system design and the social aspects of VC jointly influence members ’ knowledge contribution. Also the uni-dimensional conceptualization of social presence in most prior research may not be sufficient to capture the complexity in VC interaction. To address these theoretical voids, a research model is developed to explain the effect of social presence on knowledge contribution as mediated through social identity. More particularly, drawing upon environmental psychology literature and prior research on social presence, we propose a three-dimensional conceptualization, consisting of sensory, affective, and cognitive components, and discuss their distinct roles in developing social identification and promoting knowledge contribution. The research model was empirically tested with a survey involving 430 registered members. The results provided a strong support for the validity and usability of the multi-dimensional conceptualization of social presence.

other people are heaven, when other people are hell: