Small group brainstorming and idea quality - Is electronic brainstorming the most effective approach?

Idea quality is the most important indicator of group brainstorming performance. Yet, little electronic brainstorming (EBS) research has assessed idea quality directly. This article provides a closer look at EBS and nominal brainstorming groups in terms of idea quality. This study employed an unbalanced repeated measures experimental design to compare the quality of ideas generated by small groups using four brainstorming technologies (nominal, verbal, EBS-anonymous, and EBS-non-anonymous). In the experiment, three conditions thought to improve the effectiveness of EBS groups were also manipulated. The results indicated that overall, nominal brainstorming groups generated ideas at least as good, if not better than EBS groups. Furthermore, the three conditions manipulated did not improve the quality of the ideas generated by EBS groups.