Exploring Mismatches in Self-Others’ Perceptions of Effort in Videoconferencing

In distributed cooperative work, an individual's effort is often not properly perceived and mistakenly regarded as "loafing" by others, which can lower their motivation and potentially lead to unfortunate consequences.It remains unclear how mismatches in self-others' perceptions of effort arise in distributed environments.To explore this, we conducted an experiment with 12 fourperson videoconferencing groups, followed by questionnaires and semi-structured interviews about mutual perceptions.The results showed that most participants whose self-evaluation exceeded evaluations from others explained their own effort through non-visible cues, such as listening or thinking, while others often focused on their seemingly passive behaviors, such as speaking mostly when prompted by the facilitator, instead of these non-visible cues.Conversely, facilitators or free riders were often evaluated higher by others yet judged themselves as putting in insufficient effort, such as not listening or generating ideas.We discuss future support methods for coordinating mismatches in distributed cooperative work.