This study tests hypotheses derived from information processing theory concerning relationships between individuals' job category, organizational level, and levels and patterns of media usage. Media studied include face-to-face, meetings, memosfletters, telephone and electronic mail. In the meta-analysis of over 40 studies, usage of different media was significantly different for managers/executives versus others, and was highly correlated with organizational level. In the individual-level analyses of four organizations, the majority of respondents were classified into their actual job categories, and according to distances between organizational levels, by a discriminant function involving only relative extent of media use, especially participation in meetings. Contrary to information richness theory, upper-level respondents (managers) did not necessarily use electronic mail less than did lower-level respondents (clerical workers). The article concludes by discussing implications for theories of organizational media use and implementation of electronic mail systems.
This study examines relationships among perceived accessibility to an electronic messaging system (EMS), computer-monitored and reported usage of the system by approximately 100 employees of one division of an aerospace firm, user's job type, perceived appropriateness of the EMS, and reported outcomes such as changes in effectiveness and use of paper-based media. Greater accessibility resulted in more usage and reported increases in effectiveness. Physical distance to a terminal affects the associations of other aspects of accessibility with usage and has a greater influence on these associations earlier in one's adoption process. Differences in job type showed statistically significant associations with usage, independent of the influence of accessibility.Computer-monitored and reported usage measures were only moderately correlated and were differentially associated with the access measures and with the two outcomes. The article ends by discussing implications for implementation and evaluation of computer-based communication systems, theories of media characteristics and information value, and methodological issues in using computer-monitored usage data.
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