A closer look on social presence as a causing factor in computer-mediated collaboration

So far, research in computer-mediated collaboration has investigated various factors influencing the amount of social presence experienced in online settings. This experimental study broadens the perspective and investigates social presence as a causing factor on participants' perception on task, medium and collaboration. Therefore an experiment with between subject design was conducted, with manipulation of three different levels of social presence: Full (f2f), medium online and low social presence (each n = 20). Participants had to solve an online puzzle in dyads. Findings mainly confirm a favourable influence of social presence on the perception of task and collaboration. Additionally, this study supports the importance of considering the reciprocal nature of social presence.