| Popis: |
Many processes in the modern workplace imply punctuality. Especially for online meetings, adherence to the time frame is considered ideal. Nevertheless, delays occur in many meetings, which can have a negative impact on the participants and their environments. While initial results on the phenomenon of meeting lateness primarily emphasize organizational meetings, other groups and formats remain unconsidered. Advancing digitalization during the COVID-19 pandemic has created new collaboration opportunities at universities, the use and modalities of which are still being explored. The aim of this study is a quantitatively investigation of whether delays in online meetings occur in an educational context and how they are related to participants' satisfaction with process and output. Students from Germany and Italy (N = 279) were asked to assess their meeting experiences. The results showed that about every fourth virtual student meeting starts with a delay. Satisfaction with the process and output in late meetings was reported as significantly lower than in on-time meetings. As expected, differences between countries were not found. This study contributes to enrich the findings in the field of European meeting research and to transfer them to student groups in online format. Subsequent research on further design criteria and output variables, as well as direct comparisons of online and face-to-face formats, will be discussed taking into account the methodological limitations. Meetings could thus be optimized and collaboration made more efficient and effective. |
