CASOS Working PAPER

"SIMULATING THE ROLE OF TRANSACTIVE MEMORY IN GROUP TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE 1" (PDF file)
Author: Yuqing Ren, Kathleen Carley, Linda Argote

Abstract
Transactive memory systems refer to the idea that people in continuing close relationship develop a shared system for encoding, storing and retrieving information from different substantive domains. Previous studies provide both direct and indirect evidence of the positive impact of transactive memory systems on group performance, such as the efficient storage and recall of knowledge, the development of trust in groups, and the accuracy of group performance. This paper is an attempt to unify the experimental research on transactive memory and to extend it to a more dynamic setting for larger groups. In this paper, we develop an empirically grounded simulation model - ORGMEM, a multi-agent information processing system, which can be used to explore the formation of transactive memory and how transactive memory affects group performance. The virtual experiment results are compared against relevant lab experiment results and demonstrate the validity of ORGMEM as a mechanism to study transactive memory related phenomenon. Through a series of virtual experiments, we find that transactive memory improves group performance, decreases group response time, and increases decision quality. Our results also suggest that the impact of transactive memory tends to depend on group characteristics, such as group size.