The use of synchronous collaborative software (SCS) is increasingly common in online education. To assess the impact of these tools on communication and collaboration in online group work, we conducted a study involving 440 undergraduate and MBA students. We found that students' perceptions of communication efficacy improved as the frequency of usage with SCS increased, and that students' perceptions of team cohesion improved, with larger improvements observed in teams that were more engaged with the tool. Additionally, a conditional indirect effect exists for SCS usage on team cohesion through communication efficacy. These findings suggest that SCS can be an effective and valuable tool for facilitating communication and collaboration in online group work.
