Abstract

Hybrid collaboration is a method where individuals first tackle tasks independently before utilizing their outcomes collaboratively. Prior studies have demonstrated its superiority in idea generation tasks over starting with collaboration from the outset. This research introduces an innovative collaborative method by integrating feedback into the hybrid collaboration and examines its effect on a decision-making task. To assess the effectiveness of feedback, a hidden profile task was employed. The experiment was conducted with 267 undergraduate students, who were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: traditional collaboration(working together from the start), hybrid collaboration, and feedback-enhanced hybrid collaboration. Participants carried out tasks under these conditions, with their performance later evaluated to compare the decision quality and the discussion quality. Decision quality was evaluated based on accuracy, while discussion quality was measured through intensity and bias. Findings indicated that the feedback-enhanced hybrid collaboration achieved the highest decision accuracy, with no significant difference between hybrid and traditional collaboration. Discussion intensity was highest in the group with feedback-enhanced hybrid collaboration, followed by the hybrid collaboration, and finally, the traditional collaboration. No significant differences in discussion bias were detected across the various collaboration methods. These findings imply that integrating feedback into collaborative processes can improve group decision-making performance in hidden profile situations.