Personal Nature and Ambiguity as Sources of Message Equivocality: An Extension of Media Richness Theory

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1 Personal Nature and Ambiguity as Sources of Message Equivocality: An Extension of Media Richness Theory Jane Webster Linda Klebe Trevino Eric Stein Management Sciences Management Department Management Science and University of Waterloo Smeal College of Business Information Systems Waterloo, Ontario Pennsylvania State University Penn State Great Valley Canada N2L 3Gl University Park, PA Malvem, PA (519) , ext (814) (610) jwebsterqmansci1.uwaterloo.ca ItOQpsuvm.psu.edu ews3qpsu.edu Abstract and Christie, 1976). A current debate concerns the explanatory power of various theories, and in Media richness theory has become one of the most cited, yet controversial, theories of media choices in organizations. In this paper, we refine and extend media richness theory by more precisely characterizing its key construct, the concept of message equivocal@. We identify two sources of message equivocality, personal nature and ambiguity. We then present results from three studies that demonstrate their differential effects on media choices. Personal nature explains variance in media choices over and above that explained by ambiguiry Further, employees prefer to send personal messages via face-to-face meetings, telephone, and voice mail, and impersonal messages via electronic mail, facsimile, and memos. Implications for research ana new media are drawn. Introduction Today s manager frequently has access to facsimile (fax), electronic mail ( ), and voice mail (vmail) systems in addition to the more traditional communication channels such as telephone, memos, letters, and meetings. A better understanding of media choices can contribute to the design of communication and information systems and can lay the groundwork for future research about how media choices relate to communication effectiveness (Fulk & Boyd, 1991). Given the importance of effective communication and the widening array of communication media available, research on the multiple determinants of media choice is important. For decades, the reasons behind media choices in organizations have intrigued researchers (e.g., Fulk, Schmitz, & Ryu, 1995; Short, Williams, particular media richness theory (e.g., Kinney & Dennis, 1994; Markus, 1994). Media richness theory (Daft & Lengel, 1986) has been one of the most cited, yet controversial, theories explaining media choices. In this paper, we attempt to clarify media richness theory by more precisely characterizing its key construct, the concept of message equivocality. We identify two sources of equivocality as personal nature and ambiguity of the message, and then present results from three studies incorporating over 700 employees. Equivocality of message content Daft and colleagues (e.g., Daft & Lengel, 1986) media richness theory suggests that the content of the communicated message drives media choice. According to the theory, highly equivocal messages are open to interpretation. Therefore, a shared definition of the message content must be created through two-way interaction that uses language and other cues. Media richness theory arrays media along a richness hierarchy. Face-to-face is considered to be the richest medium, followed by telephone, new media (such as and vmail) and written documents. Hence, for equivocal messages, richer media (i.e., media higher in immediate feedback, multiple cues, natural language, and personal focus), such as face-to-face meetings or the telephone, are better choices because rich media allow shared meaning to be created between the communicators. In contrast, consensus of meaning already exists for unequivocal messages. Thus, leaner media (such as written documents) can adequately carry these messages /96 $ IEEE 34

2 Media richness theory is prescriptive in the sense that communication is expected to be more effective when the medium matches the message content. In support of this aspect of the theory, Daft and colleagues (Daft, Lengel, & Trevino, 1987) demonstrated that managers who match the medium to the message content are rated as better performers overall. The descriptive aspect of media richness theory has found mixed support. In a qualitative study, Trevino, Lengel, and Daft (1987) found that managers cited content-related reasons for choosing traditional communications media (e.g., face-to-face and written) and for choosing new media (e.g., ). These reasons were consistent with media richness theory, suggesting that media richness theory can explain both traditional and new media choices. However, more recent research has suggested that new media such as are being chosen to send equivocal messages (Lee, 1994; Markus, 1994) despite their relatively low placement on the richness hierarchy. This has led to disagreement about the ability of new media to handle equivocal messages and about the ability of media richness theory to explain new media choices. One explanation for the contradictory results may relate to variance in richness perceptions based upon social influences (e.g., Fulk, 1993) and experience with new media (Kydd & Ferry, 1995). However, another explanation may be traced to two very different sources of message equivocality in communications -- ambiguity and personal nature of the message. Trevino, Daft and Lengel (1990: 74) described equivocality as the existence of multiple and conflicting interpretations about an organization situation, and suggested that it may be high when the situation or message is ambiguous g when frames of reference differ, such as with emotional messages [which] are subjective and open to multiple interpretations. Further, items that these researchers (e.g., Lengel, 1983: 124, 127) developed to capture message equivocality could be categorized as either ambiguous (e.g., to present some confusing changes in the employee benefit package to 20 subordinates ) or of an emotional/personal nature (e.g., to work out a personality problem that has affected the working relationship between you and your boss ). Ambiguous messages involve vagueness, confusion, and lack of understanding, while personal messages involve confidential, private, or delicate information that incorporates feelings and emotions. Both ambiguous and personal messages are open to multiple and conflicting interpretations. Thus, they are both sources of equivocality. However, these two sources of equivocality may affect media choices in different ways. For example, Markus (1994) has suggested that the personal nature of a message affects media choices, independent of the ambiguity of the message. She found that employees preferred the telephone to for highly personal messages. was seen as appropriate for non-personal, work-related communication, while the telephone was viewed as appropriate for maintaining social relationships. Thus, she concluded that choices for personal messages are more likely to be socially defined. Similarly, Haythornthwaite, Wellman, and Mantei (1994) proposed that the social sensitivity of a communication will affect media choice. They found that researchers were more likely to give emotional support and to socialize face-to-face than through (however, they did find that researchers received emotional support both through face-to-face and communications). Finally, Short et al. (1976: 75) present evidence that face-to-face contact was especiahy necessary in those communication situations which involve a high degree of emotional contact. This research suggests that the personal nature of a message may influence media choices in ways that are somewhat different from ambiguous messages. For example, media that are viewed as more private (face-to-face meetings, telephone, vmail, and letters) may be seen as a more appropriate choice for personal messages, while media that are viewed as more public ( , fax, and memos) will be seen as less appropriate for these messages. Hence, we propose that: Hl: The personal nature of a message (a) will influence media choices, and (b) will explain variance in media choices over and above the ambiguity of the message. More specifically: H2: Face-to-face meetings, telephone, vmail, and letters will be more likely to be selected for messages of a personal nature than , fax, or memos. Method Secondary data from three studies inform these questions. Data for studies 1 and 2 were collected as part of a larger study (Webster 8z Trevino, 1995), and test Hla and H2. Study 3 is part of a broade:r unpublished investigation of media choices and attitudes, and tests Hl and H2. (These studies examined other constructs such as symbolic 35

3 cues and social influences) in addition to those of interest here.) Study 1 One-hundred and ninety-seven non-academic (administrative, technical/professional, and managerial) employees of a large public U.S. university participated in a policy capturing study. Policy capturing (or the factorial survey -- Rossi & Neck, 1982) is a within-subjects method used to determine the importance of various decision variables (or factors) to employees 1977). Participants are presented with multiple scenarios that vary the factors of interest to the researcher. In this study, five factors were incorporated in 120 scenarios (for which each participant read 40) - - equivocality, symbolic cues, number of message recipients, message recipients locations, and coworker use. After reading each scenario, participants rated the likelihood of choosing five different media (telephone, memo, letter, face-to-face meeting, and ). Measures. The factors examined in the scenarios by Webster and Trevino (1995) were based on past research. For the particular factor of interest here, equivocality, messages varying in terms of equivocality were adapted from Lengel s (1983) communication incidents, and pretested on two groups of non-academic professional employees. We determined personal nature of the messages in the following manner. Fist, we rated the high equivocality scenarios based on personalness. For example, the following two scenarios were both high in equivocality, but the scenario containing The purpose of your communication is to inform a committee member that he/she is not doing an adequate job and is being replaced with someone else was considered highly personal, while the one containing The purpose of your communication is to present to all committee members a proposed new employee benefit package that contains confusing changes in medical coverage was not. Second, we confirmed our ratings by pretesting these high-equivocality messages for personal nature on a convenience sample of 20 nonacademic professionals in a university. Instructions stated: Some messages are more personal than others. By personal, we mean that the message involves confidential, private, or delicate information, or that it involves feelings and emotions. Please rate each of the following messages on how personal it is:. Participants indicated their ratings of each item on seven-point scales ranging from not at all personal to highly personal. These independent ratings of personal nature confirmed our apriori ratings, and were used to classify scenarios as low ( 0 ) or high ( 1 ) in personal nature. Tbe likelihood of choice (on a seven-point scale ranging from Not at all Likely to Highly Likely ) of a particular medium (for each of five media) represented the dependent variable(s). Analyses. To examine Hl, the highequivocality scenarios (l/3 of the scenarios) were reanalyzed using the same method as Webster and Trevino (1995) (i.e., pooled ANOVAs, controlling for subject), incorporating personal nature as an additional variable. To examine H2, the directions (positive or negative) of the relationships for personal nature were examined. Results. If equivocality is a unified construct, then, we would expect to find that personal nature does not explain any variation in choices when equivocality is held constant. That is, when only high equivocal&y scenarios are analyzed, and personal nature is added as an additional variable, we should find no significant influence for personal nature of the message. However, personal nature was significant (p <.05) for all media except for letters, providing significant support for Hla. Findings were also consistent with H2: personal nature was significant (p <.05) and positive for face-to-face and telephone, significant (p c.05) and negative for and memos, but nonsignificant for letters. The non-significant finding for letters may be because letters incorporate aspects of a private and public nature; they generally are sealed in envelopes, yet are copied easily. Study 2 Fifty-six salaried employees of a northeastern branch of a large, U.S., manufacturing organization responded to a second policy capturing study, similar in design to Study 1. Participants were presented with four communication choices: face-to-face, vmail, memo, and . Measures. Twenty-four scenarios similar to Study 1 and the same measure for personal nature were used. Similarly, the likelihood of choice for the four media was operationalized as in Study 1. Analyses. As in Study 1, we were interested in testing whether personal nature explained variance 36

4 in media choices, and again reanalyzed the highequivocality scenarios (l/2 of the scenarios). Because of sample size, t-tests were used to test the hypotheses. Results. Personal nature was significant (p <.05) for all media, supporting Hla. Consistent with H2, personal nature related positively to face-to-face and vmail :and negatively to memos and . Study 3 Five hundred and thirty-three employees from a va+y of organizations completed one of four versions (firce-to-face meeting, letter, , or fax) of a survey G! media choices and attitudes. Unlike Studies 1 and 2, in which employees made media choices bapcd upon scenarios, employees in this study described r?le last message that they had sent via one of the four media. They were asked to think about the last message that they had sent via this medium. For instanc.2, for they were instructed to: think about the ~ONTEWT of the electronic message you sent. Measures. Ambiguity was assessed by developing four items (e.g., vague ) to measure task characteri&s of the message (Cronbach s alpha =.87), and personal nature was measured with one item ( em~.:cional ). Participants were asked to rate The CObCENT of the message I sent was: on fivepoint sca1c.u ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. C hoice of a medium was an actual choice of a particul~ medium. Analyses. Because the dependent variable in this study was categorical (that is, one of face-to-face meeting, letter, , or fax), discriminant analysis was used to test Hl. Discriminant analysis allows one to determine whether variables can discriminate between media choices and provides a powerful technique for examining differences between two or more groups of objects with respect to several variables simultaneously (Klecka, 1980: 5). Results indicate whether cases would be classified correctly based on the discriminating variables. In order to correctly classify media choices, it was important to include variables that were not of specific interest in this study, but that are thought to influence media choices based upon past research. Therefore, two additional measures, symbolic cues and social influences, were included in the discriminant analysis for completeness. Thus, the four discriminating (independent) variables were: task ambiguity, personal nature, symbolic cues, and social influences. H2 was examined by conducting a one-way ANOVA on personal nature of the message by type of medium. Results. In the discriminant analysis, the number of cases correctly classified by the discriminatin.g variables was 62.5%, much higher than that expecteld by chance for four groups (media). Ambiguity a.nd personal nature correlated.56 (p <.Ol), and they loaded on the same discriminating function, indicating a substantial relationship between the two. However, they both explained unique variance (p <: 401) in discriminating between groups, supporting El1. The ANOVA was significant; messages sent via face-to-face communication were rated as significantly higher on personal nature than those sent via the other three media (letter, , and fax, which were not significantly different from each other). Again, H2 was supported. Discussiou and conclusions The: results suggest that message equivocality may arise from two different sources: personal nature and ambiguity of the message. They are closely related in that both represent sources of multiple and conflicting interpretations, but they are not the same. In Studies 11 and 2, scenarios high in equivocality varied from low to high in personal nature. In these studies, personal nature of the message influenced media choices when equivocality was held constant. In Study 3, although ambiguity and personal nature related strongly, personal nature of the message provided discriminatory power for media choices over and above that provided by ambiguity. Further, employees viewed certain media (face-to-face, telephone, and vmail) as much more appropriate than other media, ( , fax, and memos) for sending personal messages. These choices were consistent with our theorizing about the potential importance of privacy for media choice when the message is personal. These studies extend media richness theory by differentiating between personal nature and ambiguity of message content, and should help to shed light on the mixed results of past research. They also augme:nt past research in several other ways. First, in the present studies, a range of traditional and newer communication media were compared; in contrast, much past research has examined only one 37

5 Proceedings of the 29th Annual Hawaii Internc ntional Conference on System Sciences or two media. Second, the present studies measured equivocality at its most appropriate level, the message level (Fulk & Boyd, 1991; Rice, 1992; Webster & Trevino, 1995); in contrast, much of the past research that has questioned the validity of media richness theory has operationalized equivocality at the job level (e.g., Fulk, 1993; Golden et al., 1992; Rice, 1992; Rice et al., 1994) rather than at the message level. Results of the present studies may become particularly important with the trend towards the use of multi-media, such as desktop videoconferencing, in communications. Videoconferencing is commonly viewed as just below face-to-face communications in terms of richness, and audioconferencing as just below videoconferencing (e.g., Conger, 1988: 39). In terms of matching the medium to the message, this ranking is probably most correct in terms of video and audio s abilities to handle ambiguous messages. When personal nature of the message is considered, videoconferencing and audioconferencing should probably be viewed as more similar to media such as because of privacy considerations. In support of this, Short et al. (1976: 67) found that only a few scales from a larger number distinguished between face-to-face and video media, two of which were unsociable-sociable and public-private. Therefore, perhaps two richness hierarchies are needed, one based on the ability of a medium to handle ambiguity and another based on the ability of a medium to handle personal messages (see Figure 1). Future research needs to explore whether these two hierarchies will describe choices more accurately than one hierarchy. More specifically, researchers need to distinguish between personal nature and ambiguity of message content in future research concerning media choices. In addition, a multi-item questionnaire measure of personal nature of a message needs to be developed. Although we used well-tested scenarios varying in personal nature of the message in Studies 1 and 2, the questionnaire measure used in Study 3 relied on a single-item measure. Another direction for future research concerns the positive or negative nature of.messages. The present studies did not compare choices for positive and negative personal messages. However, negative messages probably will be viewed as more personal than positive ones (Haythornthwaite et al., 1994). Future research should investigate the differential effects of positive and negative messages on media choices. Media Richness Hierarchy Based on Message Ambiguity Media Richness Hierarchy Based on Personal Nature Face-to Face Videoconferencing Audioconferencing Telephone Electronic Mail Voice Mail Facsimile Written Face-to-Face Telephone Voice Mail Electronic Mail Audiocon ferencing Videoconferencing Facsimile Written Figure 1. Two Possible Media Richness Hierarchies for Matching Media and Messages 38

6 Finally, managers should be aware of the importance of the personal nature of the message for most media choices, but especially for the choice of face-to-face meetings. Despite the many technological advances in the communications arena, business travel continues to increase suggesting that face-to-face meetings remain an essential part of the communication mix. Managers still have to make tough decisions about when to travel and when to choose alternative communication media, and costs of communication are important inputs into these decisions. If communication is to be effective, organizations need to provide appropriate media and they need to support effective media use. Understanding employees media choices can provide an important knowledge base for management decisions about communication media resources and training. This can influence recommendations regarding investment in and use of new technologies such as desktop videoconferencing. Acknowledgements We would like to thank John L. White for his research assistance, Michelle Gillner for her assistance with data collection, and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Information Systems at the Pennsylvania State University for their financial support. References 1. Conger, S An exploration of information technology use for inter-unite coordination, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, New York University. 2. Daft, R. L., & Lengel, R. H A proposed integration among organizational information requirements, media richness, and structural design. Manapement Science, 32: Daft, R. L., Lengel, R. H., & Trevino, L. K Message equivocality, media selection, and manager performance: Implications for information systems. MIS Guarterlv, 11: Fulk, J Social construction of communication technology. Academv of ManaRement 36: Fulk, J., 8z Boyd, B Emerging theories of communication in organizations. Journal of Management, 17: Fulk, J., Schmitz, J., & Ryu, D Cognitive elements in the social construction of communication technology. Management Communication Ouarterlv, 8: Golden, A., Beauclair, R., 8z Sussman, L Factors affecting electronic mail use. Con- 8: Haythzhwaite, C., Wellman, B., & Mantei, M Media use and work relationships in a research group. In J.F. Nunamaker, Jr., & R.H. Sprague, Jr. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twentv-Seventh Annual Hawaii International Conference on Svstem Sciences, Vol. IV, , Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press. 9. Kinney, S., & Dennis, A Reevaluating media richness: Cues, feedback, and task. In J..F. Nunamaker, Jr., & R.H. Sprague, Jr. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Hawaii International Conference on Gem Sciences, Vol. IV, 21-30, Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press. 10. Klecka, W. R Discriminant Analysis, Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. 11. Kydd, CT. & Ferry, D.L Electronic mail and new methods for measuring media richness. In M. K. Ahuja, D. F. Galletta, & H. J. Watson (Eds.), Proceedings of the First Americas Conference on Information sysf.ems, , Pittsburgh, PA. 12. Lee, A.S Electronic mail as a medium for rich communication: An empirical investigation using hermeneutic interpretation. MIS Quarterlv, 18: Lengel, R. H Managerial Information Processing and Media Selection Behavior. Unpublished dissertation, Texas A & M University. 14. Markus, M. L Electronic mail as the medlium of managerial choice. Organization Science, 5: Rice, R. E Task analyzability, use of new media, and effectiveness: A multisite exploration of media richness. Organization --p Science 3: Rice, R. E., Kraut, R. E., Cool. C., & Fish, R. S Individual, structural and social influences on use of a new communication medlium. In D. P. Moore (Ed.), Academv of Marulagement Dallas, TX: Academy of Management. 17. Rossi, P. H., & Neck, S. L Measuring Social Judgments, Beverly Hills, CA: Ge Publications. 18. Short, J., Williams, E., & Christie, B m 39

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