Based on earlier studies on Group Support Systems (GSS), this research attempted to examine factors that influence idea creativity in an electronic brainstorming session: interaction mode and proximity. Idea creativity contained four aspects: idea fluency, idea flexibility, idea elaboration, and idea originality. We hypothesized that groups using creativity software could achieve higher level of idea creativity than groups using traditional brainstorming, and groups using creativity software graphic mode could achieve higher level of idea creativity than groups using outline mode. Additionally, we hypothesized that groups meeting in the same place could achieve higher level of idea creativity than groups meeting in different places. We also hypothesized that the combination of software mode and group proximity would significantly affect the level of idea creativity.

The results indicated that groups meeting in different places had a higher level of idea creativity than those meeting in the same place, and that software mode did not significantly influence the total number of ideas generated. Moreover, the combination of software mode and location did not significantly affect the level of idea creativity in electronic brainstorming groups. This meant that a particular group could have the same level of idea creativity as another group in the experiment, and creativity software might not be able to enhance idea creativity.

Overall, the findings of this preliminary study on creativity software characteristics are interesting and provide motivation for further research in this area. It is believed that the findings from this research will have both managerial implication for practitioners employing creativity software in different business settings (face-to-face, virtual team, etc.), and academic implication for researchers who are interested in electronic brainstorming or other GSS-based tasks in different time/place settings. Researchers can also use the results as a guideline for future research that aims to examine GSS-support activities as well as IT communication support, and this stream of research can create knowledge about factors and group setting that enhance idea creativity, about individual and organization characteristics that affect idea creativity, and about user satisfaction resulted from idea creativity.