Discovery, dissemination, and information diversity in networked groups

This paper examines the performance of networked groups on problems that require the aggregation of information from diverse sources. We present results from a behavioral experiment where groups of twenty networked participants worked on a problem that required them to pool unique information to discover a solution, and then disseminate it to others for adoption. We found that networks comprised of subgroups containing diverse information, which provided many opportunities for local synthesis of information, outperformed those comprised of homogeneous subgroups. Our findings suggest ways the configuration of a group can be altered to improve performance on a task that requires the coordinated discovery and implementation of a solution, illustrating that it is not only the total amount of information diversity in the group that matters but also its distribution within network subgroups.