Testing Media Richness Theory in the New Media: The Effects of Cues, Feedback, and Task Equivocality

Media richness theory argues that performance improves when team members use "richer" media for equivocal tasks. This experiment studied the effects of media richness on decision making in two-person teams using "new media" (i.e., computer-mediated and video communication). Media...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInformation systems research Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 256 - 274
Main Authors Dennis, Alan R, Kinney, Susan T
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Linthicum INFORMS 01.09.1998
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
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ISSN1047-7047
1526-5536
DOI10.1287/isre.9.3.256

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Summary:Media richness theory argues that performance improves when team members use "richer" media for equivocal tasks. This experiment studied the effects of media richness on decision making in two-person teams using "new media" (i.e., computer-mediated and video communication). Media richness was varied based on multiplicity of cues and immediacy of feedback. Subjects perceived differences in richness due to both cues and feedback, but matching richness to task equivocality did not improve decision quality, decision time, consensus change, or communication satisfaction. Use of media providing fewer cues (i.e., computer mediated communication) led to slower decisions and more so for the less equivocal task. In short, the results found no support for the central proposition of media richness theory; matching media richness to task equivocality did not improve performance.
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ISSN:1047-7047
1526-5536
DOI:10.1287/isre.9.3.256