Channel Expansion Theory

SHEENA WILLIAMSCOM 820

Channel Expansion Theory

Overview

Introduction to Channel Expansion Theory (CET)

Discussion of articles which have used CETEvaluation of CET


Carlson & Zmud (1994)

Media richness depends on users perception of the medium

Focus on how individuals develop perceptionsBased on experiential factors

Through knowledge-building experience Also, socially constructed

CET

In other words, how do individuals expand their perception of a given channel? How does the richness of a medium change?

What is media richness?How does perceived richness develop?

Media Richness Roots

•Face-to-face•Memos•Telephone

Workplace 1980’s


Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel, 1984)

Developed in order to explain and evaluate the effectiveness of media used in organizations

Addresses communication challenges Conflicting interpretations Unclear messages

What is media richness?

Richness = productive and fruitfulness Based on ability of medium to:

allow multiple information cues simultaneously The more verbal and non-verbal cues the richer the media.

aid in speedy responses How quickly do you receive feedback?

establish a personal focus Is the message addressed to a specific person?

make use of natural language Media richness is important in creating a shared understanding

in communication Ability to encode and decode

Avoid misunderstandings/unclear messages

"The more learning that can be pumped through a medium, the richer the medium.“ - Daft & Lengel (1984)


Best choice for highly ambiguous tasks

Fixed position on scale

1990’s workplace changes

Advent of electronic mail


E-mail???


This need for further evaluation of what factors shape individuals’ perceptions of communication media lead to CET

What affects perceived richness?

Carlson & Zmud (1994)Previous knowledge-building experience with:

Medium PartnerTopicContext

More Experience

Richer/more effective media

What affects perceived richness?

Also,Perceptions are also socially constructed

Individuals’ perceptions align with those of the others in their network Knowledge of others’ beliefs, opinions, feelings about the

medium.

Draws on Social Influence Theory

MRT – Richness of media is static

CET – Richness of media is fluid

As you gain experience you are able to select which channel will fit your needs.

Subjective Richness

CET vs. MRT

ObjectiveRichness

Experience

Channel Selection


CET can be thought of as linear and developing across time. What seemed as less efficient and lean can become

more efficient and richer with experienceGoal is to use the medium to create a shared

understanding in communication Avoid misunderstandings and unclear messages

D’Urso & Rains, 2008

Put CET through the test Organizational situationExamine traditional vs. new communication

media face-to-face telephone e-mail instant-messaging

First time IMing applied to CETOnly looked at experience with topic, partner,

and media and social influence


Hypothesis 1: When controlling for the effects of perceived social influence and structural differences in the media, (a) channel experience, (b) experience with one’s communication partner, and (c) experience with the communication topic are positively related to perceptions of richness of the four communication channels.

Hypothesis 2: Channel type will interact with the experiential factors and perceived social influence in predicting richness perceptions: (a) Channel experience, (b) experience with one’s communication partner, (c) experience

with the communication topic, and (d) perceived social influence will more strongly predict richness perceptions with newer communication technologies (e-mail and IM) than with traditional technologies (face-to-face interaction and telephone). Because FtF and phone are norms and should not be influenced by experiential factors and

social influence

Research question: What relationships exist among the key types of experience, the perceived social influence, and the four components of richness (multiple channels, language variety, immediacy of feedback and personalness)?


Methods Students solicitation of participants

over the age of 18 employed at least part-time not employed by the university

Participants asked which channels (i.e., e-mail, IM, FtF, telephone) they had regular access at their job

Participants randomly assigned to an online questionnaire related to one of the four channels they had experience with 269 participants

69 e-mail 57 IM 71 phone 72 FtF

Asked to think about a recent interaction at work using the medium addressed in the questionnaire and to complete measures of perceived social influence media richness three types of experience (partner, topic, medium)


Questionnaire MeasuresMedia Richness

Mediums ability to allow simultaneous multiple cues immediacy of feedback language variety

Ability to use symbols to communicate and express ideas through nonword sounds and utterances

Personalness medium is warm, sociable, and sensitive

Perceived Social Influence Respondents rated the degree to which key others in their

organization (coworkers, supervisors, subordinates) use the medium and perceive it to be useful.

Channel, topic, and partner experience


ResultsH1(a-c) - Supported

All experiential factors were found to be significantly related to the perceived richness of each of the media

H2(a-d) - Rejected no differences between new and traditional media in regard to

the relationship between richness perceptions and experience with the channel, topic, one’s partner, and social influence

RQ Experiential factors and social influence related to personalness Experience with channel related to immediacy of feedback Experience with channel and perceived social influence related

to language variety Differences in media related to multiple cues


Important Conclusions Support for CET including “newer” media (Instant Messaging)

Prior experience affects user perception of IMing’s richness Social Influence related to perception of richness Experience with channel appears to trump other types of

experience Related to 3 of 4 richness factors

Richness of a medium is fluid as viewed by CETComplex relationship

Media types Perception of richness Social influence Experience

More experience

IMing perceived to be richer

Fernandez, Simo, Sallan, & Enache, 2013

CET applied to educational contextInvestigate online discussion forums as new

mediumTakes into account knowledge-building

aspect of experience Requires time

Fernandez, et al., 2013

RQ: How does the perception of richness in a communication media evolve over time, and how are existing relations between the knowledge-building experiences and the perception of media richness affected?


MethodsLongitudinal design91 students from European universityParticipation through a courseUsed online forum with other students and

professors on educational platformOnline questionnaires completed at 4

different times (beginning of course, 2 in the middle of the course, and 1 after the course)


InstrumentationPerceived Media Richness (feedback,

multiple cues, natural language, and personal focus)

Experience (topic, partner, channel)Supervision Level

“the capacity of explicit supervision inherent to the media”


ResultsExperience with the channel and with the

partner significantly relate to the perception of the online forum’s richness

Experience with topic NOT significantSupervision Level NOT significant“Different individuals showed different

overall levels of perceived media richness”


Important ConclusionsSupport certain experiential factors in CET

experience with partner and medium, but not topicCET concept that media richness is fluid holds

participants had different levels of perceived richness Experience with topic not related to perceived

richness The lack of significant finding may be due to the

context of the experiment. Since this was a course in which student were learning, the topic may have constantly changed.

Evaluating CET

From course text book (Miller, 2005): Accurate Consistent Broad Scope Parsimonious Fruitful

Accurate

CET appears accurate, but too new and not enough research to support this claim Since CET does not state that all experiential factors

are simultaneously required. Thus, findings such as topic not being a significant predictor of media richness (Fernandez, et al., 2013) does not completely disagree with the theory’s prediction AND cannot discredit CET.

Easily testable and allow for evaluation of the social world As seen in empirical research examples

Consistent

Internal Constructs do not seem to contradict themselves

External CET is contradicts MRT in that richness of media is

fluid/subjective vs. static/objective richness CET also clashes with social influence theory

Scope

CET appears to have an exceptionally broad scope With media types:

Videoconferencing Telephone E-mail Instant Messaging Online forums And more

Context Various organizational settings Education Any situation where individuals communicate through a

medium

Parsimonious

CET is basically simple and clearConstructs easy to understand Relationship between experience and perceived

richness is easily understood (temporal order)Yet, it can be a bit complex with social influence

aspect and experience as leading to perception. i.e. investigating 3 of 4 experiential factors Leaving out social influence

Complex relationship (from D’Urso & Rains, 2008) Media types Perception of richness Social influence Experience

Fruitfulness

CET has a heuristic valueAlthough not as common as MRT, CET

generate numerous research questions and hypothesis

CET has created a roadmap for future applications of the theory in regards to new technologies and situations

Overall Evaluation

CET appears to be a simple, broad, accurate, fruitful, & consistent theory!

BUT, since it’s still in it’s teens, more research is needed in order to accurately evaluate CET using criteria.

References

Banner design email [Image]. Creative Jar, 2013. Retrieved from http://creative-jar.com/insights/labs/programming/html-email/html-emails-coding-like-its-the-1990s-2/

Carlson, J. R., & Zmud, R. W. (1999). Channel expansion theory and the experiential nature of media richness perceptions. Academy of Management Journal, 42(2), 153-

170. doi:10.2307/257090

Charles Babbage Institute (1988). Modular office [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/scitech/carbons/start.html

Daft, R. L., & Lengel, R. H. (1984). Information richness: A new approach to managerial behavior and organizational design. Research in Organizational Behavior, 6,

191-233.

D’Urso, S. C., & Rains, S. A. (2008). Examining the scope of channel expansion: A test of channel expansion theory with new and traditional communication

media. Management Communication Quarterly, 21(4), 486-507. doi:10.1177/0893318907313712

Email 640 [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/aug/28/email.addiction

Fernandez, V., Simo, P., Sallan, J. M., & Enache, M. (2013). Evolution of online discussion forum richness according to channel expansion theory: A longitudinal panel

data analysis. Computers & Education, 62, 32-40. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.10.020

Miller, K. (2005). Communication theories: Perspectives, processes, and contexts. (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill

Tntdj (2007). Media richness theory [Diagram]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Media_Richness_Theory_Diagram_PNG.png

1980s phone [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.australiansuper.com/tools-and-resources/blog/2013/07/having-a-stockbroker-is-so-80s.aspx

Channel Expansion Theory

Technology

Transcript of Channel Expansion Theory