The Relationship Among Message Equivocality, Media Selection, and Manager Performance: Implications for Information Support Systems.

Abstract

A field study of 95 middle-level and upper-level managers was undertaken to explain top managers' selection of communication media. The findings indicate that media vary in their capacity to convey information cues, and that media richness is correlated with message equivocality. Managers prefer rich media for equivocal communications and less rich media for unequivocal communications. The data suggest that high performing managers are more sensitive to the relationship between message equivocality and media richness than low performing managers. Implications for managers' use of information systems and electronic media are discussed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1986
Accession Number
ADA173343

Entities

People

  • Linda Trevino
  • Richard Daft
  • Robert Lengel

Organizations

  • Texas A&M University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Business Administration
  • Communication Channels
  • Communication Systems
  • Data Analysis
  • Databases
  • Decision Support Systems
  • Electronic Mail
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Information Systems
  • Management Information Systems
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Research
  • Organizational Structure
  • Psychology

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics