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Publications
  • May, 2019
  • Article
  • CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Proceedings

Who Would You Like to Work With?: Use of Individual Characteristics and Social Networks in Team Formation Systems

By: Diego Gomez-Zara, Matthew Paras, Marlon Twyman, Jacqueline N. Lane, Leslie A. DeChurch and Noshir Contractor
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Abstract

People and organizations are increasingly using online platforms to assemble teams. In response, HCI researchers have theorized frameworks and created systems to support team assembly. However, little is known about how users search for and choose teammates on these platforms. We conducted a field study where 530 participants used a team formation system to assemble project teams. We describe how users’ traits and social networks influence their teammate searches, teammate choices, and team composition. Our results show that (a) what users initially search for differs from what they finally choose: initially they search for experts and sociable users, but they are ultimately more likely to choose their prior social connections; (b) users’ decisions lead to nondiverse and segregated teams, where most of the expertise and social capital are concentrated in a few teams. We discuss the implications of these results for designing team formation systems than promote users’ agency.

Keywords

Team Formation; Groups and Teams; Recruitment; Networks; Diversity

Citation

Gomez-Zara, Diego, Matthew Paras, Marlon Twyman, Jacqueline N. Lane, Leslie A. DeChurch, and Noshir Contractor. "Who Would You Like to Work With? Use of Individual Characteristics and Social Networks in Team Formation Systems." Art. 659. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Proceedings (May, 2019).
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About The Author

Jacqueline Ng Lane

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2023
    • Faculty Research

    The Subjective Expected Utility Approach and a Framework for Defining Project Risk in Terms of Novelty <i>and</i> Feasibility—A Response to Franzoni and Stephan (2023), ‘Uncertainty and Risk-Taking in Science’

    By: Jacqueline N. Lane
    • June 2022
    • Management Science

    Conservatism Gets Funded? A Field Experiment on the Role of Negative Information in Novel Project Evaluation

    By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Misha Teplitskiy, Gary Gray, Hardeep Ranu, Michael Menietti, Eva C. Guinan and Karim R. Lakhani
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Are Experts Blinded by Feasibility?: Experimental Evidence from a NASA Robotics Challenge

    By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Zoe Szajnfarber, Jason Crusan, Michael Menietti and Karim R. Lakhani
More from the Authors
  • The Subjective Expected Utility Approach and a Framework for Defining Project Risk in Terms of Novelty <i>and</i> Feasibility—A Response to Franzoni and Stephan (2023), ‘Uncertainty and Risk-Taking in Science’ By: Jacqueline N. Lane
  • Conservatism Gets Funded? A Field Experiment on the Role of Negative Information in Novel Project Evaluation By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Misha Teplitskiy, Gary Gray, Hardeep Ranu, Michael Menietti, Eva C. Guinan and Karim R. Lakhani
  • Are Experts Blinded by Feasibility?: Experimental Evidence from a NASA Robotics Challenge By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Zoe Szajnfarber, Jason Crusan, Michael Menietti and Karim R. Lakhani
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