The effect of task roles on the perceived usability of management tools

We investigate how demands of a task create differing task roles with distinct levels of information uncertainty, information and cognitive load, and social responsibility. Pairs solved a standard matching game using tangrams under three different instant messaging (IM) tool conditions. We show that a participant's use and evaluation of the IM tool are largely based on their assigned task roles. The findings inform the testing and evaluation of future collaborative systems and visualization tools by demonstrating the relevance of task roles in the use and utility of these systems and tools.