Abstract
Information sharing is essential for learning and performance in
groups and organizations. This chapter examines factors
that either encourage or discourage information sharing,
particularly during group meetings convened for the purpose of
solving a problem or making a decision. Such purposes are
usually best served when members share with one another the
task-relevant information they hold that others in the group do
not possess (uniquely held information). Yet meetings are
often dominated by discussion of information that most members
already know (commonly held information), to the relative
exclusion of their uniquely held information. We examine
in some detail the information sampling process that gives rise
to this phenomenon, and consider a range of situational and
motivational factors that moderate it, including features of the
information held, the task performed, and the group performing
it. Finally, we offer recommendations for how information
sharing during group meetings might be improved.