  With the advent of electronic interaction, dominance (or the assertion of
control over others) has acquired new dimensions. This study investigates the
dynamics and characteristics of dominance in virtual interaction by analyzing
electronic chat transcripts of groups solving a hidden profile task. We
investigate computer-mediated communication behavior patterns that demonstrate
dominance and identify a number of relevant variables. These indicators are
calculated with automatic and manual coding of text transcripts. A comparison
of both sets of variables indicates that automatic text analysis methods yield
similar conclusions than manual coding. These findings are encouraging to
advance research in text analysis methods in general, and in the study of
virtual team dominance in particular.
