Importance of epistemic emotions and collaborative interactions in collective knowledge building: Evidence from high- and low-performance groups

This study examined variations in the discourse characteristics, dynamics and developmental patterns of epistemic emotions and collaborative interactions displayed by high- and low-performance groups. We analyzed 1,469 Knowledge Forum notes from three high-performance and four low-performance groups, we found that different performance groups exhibited significantly different discourse characteristics. The high-performance group demonstrated significantly more conducive and less unconducive epistemic emotions and contributed more higher-level discourse moves than did the low-performance group. A lag sequential analysis revealed that high-performance groups transitioned more often from unproductive to conducive emotions and from one conducive emotion to another. They also engaged more in developing joint ideas, whereas the low-performance group focused on asking questions and progressing in KB inquiries. Epistemic network analysis showed that both groups' emotions and interactions evolved, with both groups engaging more in conducive emotions and productive interactions in the later phases. However, the high-performance group showed more connections between higher-level interaction types in the later phase. These results provide insights into connections among epistemic emotions, collaborative interactions, and knowledge creation. These results have implications for promoting productive epistemic emotions and interactions through adaptive scaffolding. Copyright © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.