Review of Relevant Literature

Most previous studies on media choice have focused on social presence and media richness theory. The researchers define social presence as "the degree to which a medium permits communicators to experience others as being psychologically present" (Fulk, Steinfield, Schmitz & Power, 1987, 1990; Short, Williams & Christie, 1976), or "the degree to which a medium is perceived to convey the actual presence of the communicating participants" (Short et al., 1976). According to social presence theory, communication media are perceived as rating in social presence. Social presence, then, is determined by the degree to which one medium transmits information about facial expressions, directions of looking, postures, and dress, nonverbal and vocal cues. For example, conventional media such as face-to-face and group meetings are perceived as ranked high in social presence. By contrast, electronic media such as e-mail and computer-based written documents are poorly perceived in terms of social presence. Therefore, social presence theorists argued that conventional media are more appropriate for tasks requiring high social presence, whereas electric media and written letters are more appropriate for tasks with low social presence requirement.

Similar to social presence theory, media richness theory focuses on the nature of media characteristics, but in addition it also deems significant their match with task characteristics (Daft & Lengel, 1984, 1986; Hiltz & Turoff, 1981; Hiltz et al., 1986; Lengel & Daft, 1988; Rice, 1984, 1992; Rogers, 1986). This theory is based on task variety and task analyzability: task variety is "the frequency of unexpected and novel events that occur in the conversation process" (Daft & Lengel, 1986, p. 554), and task analyzability refers to "the degree to which tasks involve the application of objective, well-understood procedures that do not require novel solution."

Media richness theorists suggested that rich media, such as face-to-face and telephone, facilitate the immediate exchange of a wide range of communication cues, while leaner media such as e-mail, written roles and regulations, letters, and written notes allow exchange of a restricted range of such cues over a longer period (Daft & Lengel, 1986). Then, the media richness theorists posed that richer media are more appropriate for unanalyzable tasks such as resolving disagreements, making important decisions, generating ideas and exchanging confidential/sensitive information, whereas leaner media are more appropriate for analyzable tasks such as exchanging routine information, clarifying confusing viewpoints, and exchanging urgent/timely information. They suggest, when equivocality is high, organizations allow for rapid information cycles among managers, typically face-to-face and telephone, and prescribe fewer rules for interpretation (Draft & Lengel, 1984; Weick, 1979).

Although these two theories tried to explain end-users media choices, the authors of many empirical studies have suggested that media choice cannot be logically explained or predicted by considering only the inherent richness or social presence of the medium and the characteristics of the task (King & Xia, 1997; Markus, 1988; Rice & Shook, 1990; Trevino & Webster, 1992; Yates & Orlikowski, 1992; Zmud, Lind & Young, 1990). For instance, Ngwenyama and Lee (1997) found that electronic media increase their richness through messenger services such as call and page functions.

Since media richness theory has been only partially supported by empirical research, it is likely that other factors or dimensions might affect end-users' media choices. In order to overcome criticism leveled on media richness theory, we adopted service quality (SERVQUAL), created by Parasuraman et al. (1985), as representative characteristics that are associated with each medium. Parasuraman et al. (1988) developed a 22-item scale consisting of five service quality dimensions. They theorized that regardless of the type of service, customers use basically similar criteria in evaluating service quality and these criteria span virtually all aspects of service. Those dimensions are:

  • Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.

  • Empathy is the provision of caring individualized attention to customers.

  • Assurance is knowledge of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.

  • Tangible dimensions include physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel.

  • Responsiveness is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.



Computing Information Technology. The Human Side
Computing Information Technology: The Human Side
ISBN: 1931777527
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 186

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