The media, many businesses, and many academicians are proclaiming the information highway and the web as providing universal access to information and as providing the infrastructure in which a Oglobal villageO and Ovirtual organizationsO will emerge. Within this infrastructure, individuals are assumed to be able to freely interact and have their ideas compete in an open market. This assumption, however, neglects the fact that people continually form groups and that groups develop norms and procedures that restrict the flow of information and prevent non-group members from having the same benefits as group members. IndividualsO communication behavior is significantly affected by groups that emerge in on-line communities. This proposal is to investigate the evolution of electronic groups and to ascertain the factors affecting group formation and maintenance on this information highway. One of the outcomes of this work will be an empirically validated model of electronic group development. By investigating the development of naturally occurring electronic groups, this work is expected to contribute to the study of group dynamics and investigations of the impact and use of new telecommunication technologies.
