Relationships of Job Categories and Organizational Levels to Use of Communication Channels, Including Electronic Mail: A Meta‐analysis and Extension*

Abstract

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.

Media use in long‐distance friendships

“…Studies on media choice have revealed that people are not rational actors that choose media according to their appropriateness in a different situation (Rice & Shook 1990;Markus 1994). Fulk and colleagues (1995;Schmitz & Fulk 1991) suggested that perceived media richness is a better predictor of actual media use than objective media richness.…”

“…Media richness theory has proposed that people choose media according to their task-media fit (Daft & Lengel 1984, 1986), but empirical research has shown that people often do not act as rational actors (cf. Rice & Shook 1990). Several studies found that email predominates in longdistance relationships, especially in weak ties (Hampton & Wellman 2001;Quan-Haase et al 2002;.…”

Examining Work Performance in Immersive Virtual Environments versus Face-to-Face Physical Environments through Laboratory Experimentation

“…Rice and Shook [28] suggest that media low in richness, such as business letters, convey less of a social presence and are less effective in terms of reducing equivocality through bargaining, negotiation, and conflict resolution. They also suggest that media low in richness are able to reduce uncertainty through the exchange of facts and information.…”

Managerial information behaviour: Relationships among Total Quality Management orientation, information use environments, and managerial roles

“…The use of rich media such as face-to-face and telephone interaction for monitoring and scanning (Auster & Choo, 1996, p. 265;Rice & Shook, 1990) is especially necessary for interpersonal negotiations and disturbance handling, as it enables managers to reduce information equivocality effectively (Daft & Lengel, 1986) and understand the complex organizational environment and personal meanings associated with TQL. But the use of printed sources also enables managers to "carry out a general, wide-area viewing of the external environment in an efficient manner" (Auster & Choo, 1996, p. 267), relevant to the roles of entrepreneur and disturbance handler.…”

“…Managers typically "muddle through" information toward decision-making (Katzer & Fletcher, 1996). Most higher level managers rely heavily on intuition (Agor, 1986) and oral communication (Rice & Shook, 1990) and show a tendency to base their decisions on available information without searching for more information (Feldman & March, 1981;Isenberg, 1986) or to use organizational information (and even the channels and sources used to obtain and interpret information) as a symbolic representation of the legitimacy and accountability of the decision (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983;Feldman & March, 1981;Katzer & Fletcher, 1996). Managerial information will therefore be contingent upon the organization's norms, beliefs, and values (Daft & Lengel, 1986;Dewhirst, 1970-71;Feldman & March, 1981).…”