Multicommunicating in Meetings: Effects of Locus, Topic Relatedness, and Meeting Medium

Abstract

While meetings are a frequently used management tool, they also tend to be costly and less effective than desired. Multicommunication in meetings (Meeting MC)-being simultaneously engaged both in an organizational meeting and in one or more technology-mediated secondary conversations-has become increasingly prevalent and can affect meeting outcomes. Based on Goffman's dramaturgical lens, media synchronicity, and compartmentalization, the present study examines how the outcomes of engaging in Meeting MC are affected by three key factors: Locus (the location of the people with whom one engages in a second conversation), Meeting Medium (the technology used to conduct a meeting), and Topic Relatedness (whether the topics being discussed in a meeting are related to the second conversation). Analyses of survey data suggest that how these three factors and their interactions affect meetings when Meeting MC occurs vary depending on whether a meeting is face-to-face (FTF) or technology-mediated.

Expectations of technology use during meetings: An experimental test of manager policy, device use, and task-acknowledgment

“…However, when multicommunication is task-related, the multicommunicator has been evaluated more positively (Cameron et al, 2018;Dennis et al, 2010;De Bruin & Barber, 2019).…”

“…There is a positive association between multicommunication and topic-relatedness, as perceptions of meeting effectiveness are driven by the ability of the group to focus on the topic (Cameron et al, 2018). Multicommunication can increase feelings of team effectiveness (Dennis et al, 2010) and perceived availability (Turner & Reinsch, 2010).…”

“…Organizational norms promote "continual connectivity, vigilant availability, and responsiveness" (Mazmanian et al, 2013(Mazmanian et al, , p. 1350). Yet, engaging in multiple simultaneous conversations via ICTs often results in more errors and reduced accuracy (process loss; Cameron et al, 2018).…”

“…Research on multicommunication has primarily focused on retrospective or hypothetical accounts of multicommunication behavior. Multicommunication varies in terms of task-relatedness (Dennis et al., 2010), attentional focus (Cameron et al., 2018), and normative preferences (Stephens, 2018). Unlike phubbing, the general use of a mobile phone during interpersonal conversations (Kadylak, 2020; Roberts & David, 2016), multicommunication specifies that the communicator is engaging in multiple conversations at once, usually via an ICT (for a review, see Reinsch & Turner, 2019).…”

“…It is not surprising that retrospective accounts position multicommunication as both beneficial and detrimental to workplace conversations (Turner & Reinsch, 2007, 2010). While on-task communication (e.g., “I’m emailing the vendor”) may be viewed positively, off-task communication (e.g., “My sister won’t stop texting me”) might be viewed as a distraction (Cameron et al., 2018). Still, perceptions of those engaging in multicommunication to compliment face-to-face communication remains understudied.…”