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Abstract

Past research on communications media use in organization has frequently focused on conditions such as the technical, economic, psychological, and social factors that influence use of media in organizations. However, few studies deal with situation factors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between situation factors and utilization of communication media in organizations. These relationships between situation variables and media use are contrasted against previous media choice theoretical models (Social Presence, Information Richness, and Social Information Processing). In order to investigate the main and interaction effects of three situation constraints (urgency of message, the amount of message content, and distance between communicators), eight situations were analyzed through response surface methodology, using surveys collected from 1072 voice mail users in Wisconsin. The results strongly indicate the necessity of integrating situation factors into media choice models.

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Response Surface Analysis of Effects of Situation Constraints on Communications Media Choice in Organizations

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