We work in the following five research areas:

• Collaboration Management
• Virtual Organisation
• Real-Time Collaboration
• Appropriation and use of e-collaboration systems
• Market study e-collaboration systems

Typical Levels of analysis

The e-Collaboration research group investigates collaboration phenomena in the Information Systems and Management domains. Specifically we look into research questions on different levels of analysis:

• On the inter-organisational or network level we are dealing with the impact of (new) ICTs on organisational forms (e.g. the proliferation of virtual organisations) and the practices of network and cooperation management.
  
• On the business process level we are investigating the potentials and application of novel systems such as real-time collaboration (RTC) systems.
• On the team or group level we are looking into the adoption and appropriation of e-collaboration systems, as well as management issues in virtual, distributed teams.
• On the individual level we are interested in questions of systems acceptance and perception.
• Finally, we also look at the market for e-collaboration systems, specifically we conducted a series of market studies to learn about the diversity and developments in this market.

Research approach and methods

We apply a broad spectrum of research methods: First of all, we have a certain preference for qualitative methods, due to the novelty and complexity of the research questions and the nature of constructs we investigate such as social capital. In doing so, we often follow a practice understanding of information systems and apply methods such as rich semi-structured interviews or user observations. Besides this, we also work with traditional experimental designs or questionnaire-based surveys. These quantitative methods are applied in areas that are already well understood and are mainly used to confirm certain research aspects.