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Media Selection and Managerial Characteristics in Organizational Communications

Illinois State University

Richard L. Daft

Vanderbilt University

Robert H. Lengel

University of Texas at San Antonio

The media richness model and the symbolic interactionist perspective are the basis for hypotheses about managerial communication patterns. The hypothesized relationships are tested with data from 94 managers. The results indicate that managers tend to select the face-to-face medium for highly equivocal communications and written media for clear, objective communications. This relationship is stronger for managers with higher level positions and higher performance evaluations, and is not significantly affected by managerial educational level, organizational tenure, sender/receiver orientation, or introversion/extraversion. The implications of the findings for organization design, communications, and manager performance are discussed.

Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 2, 151-175 (1990)
DOI: 10.1177/0893318990004002002


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