Rethinking Media Richness: Towards a Theory of Media Synchronicity
Alan R. Dennis
Terry College of Business
University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
adennis@uga.edu
Joseph S. Valacich
College of Business and Economics
Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164
jsv@mail.wsu.edu
Abstract
This paper describes a new theory called a theory of
media synchronicity which proposes that a set of five
media capabilities are important to group work, and that
all tasks are composed of two fundamental communi-
cation processes (conveyance and convergence).
Communication effectiveness is influenced by matching
the media capabilities to the needs of the fundamental
communication processes, not aggregate collections of
these processes (i.e., tasks) as proposed by media
richness theory. The theory also proposes that the
relationships between communication processes and
media capabilities will vary between established and
newly formed groups, and will change over time.
1
Introduction
One of the most widely applied theories of media use
is media richness theory. Media richness theory argues
that task performance will be improved when task needs
are matched to a medium's richness -- “the ability of [its]
information to change understanding within a time
interval” [6, p. 560]. Daft and Lengel argue that media
capable of sending "rich" information (e.g., face-to-face
meetings) are better suited to equivocal tasks (where there
are multiple interpretations for available information),
while media that are less "rich" (e.g., computer-mediated
communication) are best suited to tasks of uncertainty
(where there is a lack of information). However, empirical
tests of media richness theory have not been terribly
convincing, particularly for "new media" such as
computer mediated communication [e.g., 7, 10, 11, 19,
24, 29, 39, 50, 59]. The question, is should we continue to
pursue media richness theory, attempting to refine it to
1
The authors would like to thank Ron Rice and Brad Wheeler
for particularity helpful comments in refining some of the
concepts in this paper. We would also like to thank Allen Lee
and Lynne Markus for sharing working papers that aided in the
development of our ideas. Both authors contributed equally to
this work; JSV lost the first-author coin toss.
compensate for the weak findings and draw new
conclusions based on the enhancements, or should we
attempt formulate a new theory [e.g., 34, 35, 41]?
In this paper, we take the second approach. We
propose a new theory, which we call a theory of media
synchronicity. The theory proposes that group
communication processes, regardless of task outcome
objectives, are composed of two primary processes,
conveyance and convergence. The theory also proposes
that media have a set of capabilities that play a dominant
role when addressing each type of communication
process. Performance will be enhanced when media
capabilities are aligned with these processes.
Rethinking Media Richness Theory
Media Richness Theory
Media richness theory (a.k.a. information richness
theory) proposes that task performance will be improved
when task needs are matched to a medium's ability to
convey information [6]. Daft and colleagues [6, 7, 9]
argued that media varied in their ability to enable users
to communicate and change understanding -- their
"richness." Richer media were those with a greater
language variety (the ability to convey natural language
rather than just numeric information), a greater
multiplicity of cues (the number of ways in which
information could be communicated such as the tone of
voice), a greater personalization (ability to personalize
the message), and more rapid feedback.
Media richness theory [6, 7] argues that certain media
are better able to transmit information depending upon
whether the information is used in situations of
uncertainty or equivocality. Uncertainty exists when a
framework for interpreting a message is available, but
there is a lack of information to process (i.e., there are
well understood predetermined responses to potential
problems [8]). Equivocality exists when there are
multiple (and possibly conflicting) interpretations for the
information or the framework with which to interpret it.
Equivocality requires negotiation among members to
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converge to consensus on one interpretation. Media
providing higher richness are preferred. In contrast,
uncertainty requires someone in the group to provide,
locate, or create the needed information; leaner media are
preferred. In short, Daft and Lengel [6] argue that media
capable of sending "rich" information are better suited to
equivocal tasks, while those that are less "rich" are best
suited to tasks of uncertainty. However, research suggests
that the degree of media richness may be relatively
unimportant for reducing uncertainty [see 46].
Most tests of media richness theory have examined
perceptions of media fit, not actual effects of media use
[10]. Typically, managers have been asked to choose a
medium to send a set of hypothetical messages to
determine whether their choices fit the predictions of
media richness theory [e.g., 7, 11, 25, 50, 58, 59].
Researchers have concluded that media choice is affected
by factors beyond richness [12, 18, 28, 46, 49, 50, 69].
However, media richness theory was developed to not
theorize how managers choose media, but to theorize
which media should prove most effective in what
situations [6, 10]. In other words, does the use of richer
(leaner) media improve the performance of equivocal
(uncertain) tasks? Initial evidence has not been very
supportive. The overall pattern of results across five
empirical studies of media use run counter to the
predictions of media richness theory [2, 10, 19, 61, 62].
Beyond Media Richness
Many of Daft and Lengel's [6] media richness
dimensions owe their origins to social presence theory
[55] and thus, much of media richness theory is built on
the presumption that increased richness is linked to
increased social presence [69]
2
. One primary thesis of this
paper is that the richness of a medium -- its ability to
change understanding within a time interval -- is linked
not only to its social factors but also to its information
processing capabilities. In this section, we present a set of
media characteristics that we believe are important in
understanding the effects of media use on the ability to
communicate and process information [see also 45, 51].
For communication to be successful, the receiver must
understand the message that sender intended to send, and
both the sender and receiver must agree that the receiver
has understood the message [5]. One of the oldest and
most pervasive theories of communication was first
2
Another perspective has suggested that the richness of media
-- electronic media in particular -- may be partially socially
defined [12 52]. This means that group and organizational
experiences and norms, as well as knowledge of the sender [57]
can alter participants' perceptions of media richness. Media that
are "lean" to one group, may be "richer" to another, and these
perceptions may change over time [33]. Research by Rice and
colleagues, however, concludes that social factors to have only
minor effects on media richness perceptions [47, 48, 49].
proposed by Shannon and Weaver [53]. It has been
criticized for its narrow focus [e.g., 3, 43] and other
theories have attempted to improve it [e.g., 1] but it has
endured for 50 years. The Shannon-Weaver theory
argues that the transmission of a message begins with the
source of the message who encodes the message for
transmission over a channel using a transmitter. The
channel carries the message to a receiver, which the
destination uses to decode the message.
In our terminology, the source and destination are
people (sender and receiver, respectively) and the
transmitter, channel, and receiver are parts of the
medium through which they communicate. We believe
that five media characteristics can affect communication.
Immediacy of feedback. Immediacy of feedback is
the extent to which a medium enables users to give rapid
feedback on the communications they receive [6, 9]. It
is the ability of the medium to support rapid bi-
directional communication.
Symbol variety. Symbol variety is the number of
ways in which information can be communicated -- the
"height" of the medium -- and subsumes Daft and
Lengel's multiplicity of cues and language variety. The
essence of communication and language is symbols [26].
There are at least four distinct ways in which symbol
variety may affect the communication and understanding
of messages. First, some information may be easier to
convey in one format rather than another. Second,
verbal and nonverbal symbols enable senders to include
information beyond the words themselves when the
message is transmitted. Third, the cost to compose a
message or to process an incoming message using some
symbol set may impose a delay cost [44] or a production
cost [4] that alters the way in which the sender creates
messages or reduces the understanding of the receiver.
Finally, the lack of verbal and non-verbal symbols can
have significant effects on social perceptions [68]. In
general, when verbal and non-verbal symbols are
removed there is a loss of social presence [55, 47], such
that the people with whom one is communicating
become less like real people and more like objects [68].
Parallelism. This refers to the number of
simultaneous conversations that can exist effectively --
the "width" of the medium [62; cf. multiple
addressability: 45, 56]. In traditional media such as the
telephone, only one conversation can effectively use the
medium at one time. In contrast, many electronic media
can be structured to enable many simultaneous
conversations to occur. However, as the number of
conversations increase, it becomes increasingly difficult
to monitor and coordinate the conversations [41].
Rehearsability. Rehearsability is the extent to which
the media enables the sender to rehearse or fine tune the
message before sending [cf. editability: 45]. Some
media enable the sender to carefully edit a message
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while it is being sent to ensure that the intended meaning
is expressed exactly, with no extraneous information.
Reprocessability. Reprocessability is the extent to
which a message can be reexamined or processed again
within the context of the communication event [cf. 45;
externally recorded memory: 56].
Conclusions about media richness. Table 1 examines
the capabilities of several media. In several cases, media
are listed as having a range of capabilities because they
are configurable. For example, written mail sometimes
enables the use of tables or graphics. The same may be
said for face-to-face communication because it may or
may not be possible to include tables, graphics, pictures,
and full motion video in a face-to-face conversation (as it
would be with e-mail attachments for example).
This table suggests three important conclusions beyond
those of media richness theory. First, no one medium has
the highest values on all dimensions so none could be
labeled as "richest" in Daft & Lengel's [6] terms. Second,
media are not monolithic. It is possible for one medium
to possess different levels of a communication capability
depending upon how it is configured and used (e.g., one
electronic mail system may have a limited symbol variety
(text only), while another includes graphics, and video).
Third, ranking media in absolute terms is not practical.
Daft and Lengel [6] argued that media can be ranked in
order of their richness without consideration of context
[see also 24]. Media possess many capabilities, each of
which may be more or less important in a given situation.
The "richest" medium is that which best provides the set
of capabilities needed by the situation: the individuals,
task, and social context within which they interact. Thus,
concluding that face-to-face communication is the
"richest" media is inappropriate.
Beyond Task
"Task" has been a key element in media richness
theories. In this section, we argue that regardless of the
task (whether equivocal or uncertain), groups and the
individuals within them perform a similar set of
fundamental micro-level communication processes. We
believe that attempting to recommend a single "best"
medium based on a high level task is doomed to failure.
TIP Theory. TIP theory -- Time, Interaction, and
Performance -- argues that groups are embedded into
surrounding social and organizational systems and as a
result perform three simultaneous functions as they work
[31, 32]. The first is the production function (i.e.,
performing the assigned task), which makes
contributions to the organizations within which they are
embedded (e.g., solve a problem, or exploit a new
opportunity). The second is group well-being, which
makes contributions to the group itself as an intact and
continuing social structure (e.g., members assume roles
and develop behavior norms). The third is
member-support, which makes contributions to the
individual members (e.g., relationships with others).
Within these three functions (production, group
well-being, or member support), TIP theory [32] argues
that groups can be engaged in any of four modes:
inception, technical problem solving, conflict resolution,
and execution (which is similar to Tuckman's [60]
forming, storming, norming, and performing).
Inception refers to the selection of project goals, and
for the individual members, which naturally occurs early
on in the group's life, but may reoccur when the task,
group, or members change, and require the group to
rethink goals [cf. 15]. Technical problem solving
involves resolving technical issues about how the project
will be accomplished, staffing, and roles issues (i.e., who
does what, when, how, and with whom, means choice).
Conflict resolution is the process of resolving conflicting
preferences, values, interests, work assignments, and
rewards (i.e., preference resolution). Execution refers to
the set of behaviors necessary to carry out the goals of
the project, group, or individual members (i.e., doing the
work). Execution often is performed by individuals or
sub-groups acting separately without the entire group.
There is no inherent order or required path to these
modes, except that all projects, at a minimum, move
Table 1. Relative Trait Salience of Selected Media
Feedback Symbol
Variety
Parallelism Rehearsability Reprocessability
Face-to-face high low-high low low low
Video conference medium-high low-high low low low
Telephone medium low low low low
Written mail low low-medium high high high
Voice mail low low low low-medium high
Electronic mail low-medium low-high medium high high
Electronic phone ("chat") medium low-medium medium low-medium low-medium
Asynchronous groupware low low-high high high high
Synchronous groupware low-medium low-high high medium-high high
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through inception and execution in the production
function. Projects could start in the inception mode,
move to execution, discover some new information, and
move to the technical problem solving or conflict
resolution modes, and so on. It is also important to
recognize that groups may be in different modes in
different functions (e.g., problem-solving in the
production function, and execution in group well-being
and member support).
Tasks of equivocality. Using the task terminology of
media richness theory [6], suppose that a group has just
undertaken a high equivocality task. What do they do?
The group begins in a mode of inception: the group must
come to a shared agreement on goals for the assigned
task (i.e., the production function). With high
equivocality, there are multiple and possibly conflicting
interpretations of the situation. "Participants are not
certain about what questions to ask, and if questions are
posed, the situation is ill-defined to the point where a
clear answer will not be forthcoming" [6, pp. 556-557].
There is no understanding of outcome preferences and
the cause-effect links of various options [65]. Resolving
this equivocality (or "confusion") requires sensemaking:
negotiation and construction of a mutually shared
agreement on the causal linkages and desired outcomes
-- in essence, "framing" the situation [64]. Inception
(defining goals) is the first step of this in the production
function.
There are five basic sensemaking strategies that a
group can adopt to reduce equivocality [64, 65]. One
strategy is action: members ask questions of or propose
actions, information or opinions to other group members,
and await the response. A second is triangulation,
seeking information in a variety of formats (e.g.,
quantitative, qualitative, graphical) from a variety of
sources (e.g., other group members, other departments,
other organizations, national databases) because any one
type or source of information may be inaccurate or
present an incomplete picture. A third strategy is
contextualization, the connection of the new events to
past events (e.g., "this is like the situation faced by
company X last year"). A fourth strategy is deliberation,
the slow and careful reasoning required to induce
plausible patterns from the information gained through
action, triangulation, and contextualization. When this
reasoning is allowed to incubate, meaning becomes
clearer; when information comes too quickly and
immediate responses are required, individuals fail to
process information and fall back on habitual processes
and stereotypes. The final strategy is affiliation, seeking
to understand how other individuals interpret or
understand information, and coming to a mutually
agreed upon meaning.
Thus for the first step of resolving equivocality in
setting goals, the first three sensemaking strategies
(action, triangulation, contextualization) share the same
fundamental communication process: the conveyance of
information. The conveyance of information focuses on
the dissemination of a diversity of information from
many sources, information not previously known to
participants. The goal is to disseminate and obtain as
much relevant information as possible to aid in
understanding the situation. However, conveyance has
little value without the fourth sensemaking strategy,
deliberation -- making sense of and integrating the
information to derive meaning for the current situation.
Once information is shared through conveyance
processes, the fifth sensemaking strategy (affiliation)
requires a second fundamental communication process:
the convergence on a shared meaning of this
information. The focus here is on understanding each
individual's interpretation of the information, not the
information itself. The goal is to agree on the meaning
of the information to current situation, which requires
individuals to reach a common understanding and to
mutually agree that they have achieved this
understanding (or to agree that common understanding is
not possible). This process examines ascribed meanings
and conclusions drawn from a diverse set of information
already known. This set of "distilled" information is
generally a smaller than the original set of information
because there is likely some overlap and similarity in
conclusions drawn by the individuals. Convergence uses
a comparison process in which individual compare their
conclusions to those of others, rather than reexamining
the entire information set [37]. Even with differences in
conclusions, there is a reasonable chance that the
different interpretations will have already been
considered and thus the information will have been
processed to a greater extent than the initial information
on which deliberation is still needed. Thus assessing
individual opinions usually requires less cognitive effort
than assessing unprocessed factual information [40].
The key point is that for resolving equivocality, there
are two fundamental communication processes
(conveying information/deliberation and converging on a
shared interpretation). Media richness theories
emphasize the need to converge; conveyance is left to
tasks of uncertainty. We argue that conveying
information and converging on a shared meaning are
equally critical for tasks of equivocality and uncertainty.
Without adequate conveyance of information,
individuals will reach incorrect conclusions. Without
adequate convergence, the group cannot move forward.
The other three modes in production beyond
inception (technical problem solving, conflict resolution,
and execution) follow the same pattern. For example,
technical problem solving is initiated if choosing how
the task will be undertaken is the goal. To successfully
complete technical problem solving, groups must convey
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information and converge on its meaning in order to
move forward. Likewise, for different group functions --
production, member support, group well-being -- groups
will follow a similar pattern of conveyance and
convergence. For example, group well-being concerns
the relationships among members, such as their roles in
the group, who does what, and what power and status
members accrue. If members have well-established
roles, group will usually briefly re-accept those during
inception and move directly to execution [13]. If the
group is newly formed or the task is so equivocal that
traditional roles prove unworkable, members must
choose new roles. To achieve this, groups will perform
the same fundamental communication processes of
information conveyance and convergence, plus
deliberation, in order to move forward.
Tasks of uncertainty. Again using the task
terminology of media richness theory, for tasks of
uncertainty (or low equivocality tasks) there is a well
defined framework, or the task is analyzable, but there is
a lack of information. To solve this task, groups will
follow the same basic modes as before, but the emphasis
may be different. For the production function, project
inception may be short, as goals may be clearly stated or
readily deduced. Members will still have to convey
information, deliberate, and converge on a shared set of
goals, but the volume and degree of complexity will be
less. Likewise, technical problem solving may be
specified or readily deduced, so that members can move
quickly to execution, whose focus is on the exchange of
the information. Nonetheless convergence is required
before the group can move to execution.
Group well-being and member support is less clear
for tasks of uncertainty. For a well established group,
the group may quickly proceed from inception to
execution using habitual routines [13]. However, if the
group is newly formed, or new members have been
added to the group, more time may need to be spent in
inception, technical problem solving, and conflict
resolution [15]. Nonetheless, the group will still use the
fundamental processes of information conveyance and
convergence, but the information may require a different
symbol set.
A Theory of Media Synchronicity
Synchronous activity is that which moves at the same
rate and exactly together [42]. Media synchronicity is
the extent to which individuals work together on the
same activity at the same time; i.e., have a shared focus.
The first step is to examine the ability of the media
capabilities (immediacy of feedback, symbol variety,
parallelism, reprocessability, and rehearsability) to
support the two communication processes (conveyance
and convergence) across the three group functions
(production, group well-being, and member support).
See Figure 1.
We have argued that all tasks are composed of two
fundamental communication processes, conveyance and
convergence. Conveyance is the exchange of
information, followed by deliberation on its meaning. It
can be divergent, in that not all participants need to focus
on the same information at the same time, nor must they
must agree on its meaning. In general, low media
synchronicity is preferred for conveyance.
Convergence is the development of shared meaning
for information. By definition it is convergent, in that
participants strive to agree on the meaning of
information and agree that they have agreed. This means
that participants must understand each other's views. In
general, high synchronicity is preferred for convergence.
Media Capabilities & Communication Processes
Symbol variety. The importance of symbol variety
depends upon the information that needs to be
communicated. It is best thought of as a "hygiene
factor" in the terminology of Herzberg et al. [14] in that
there is nothing inherently important or satisfying about
the symbol variety of the medium. However, if the
medium does not provide a particular symbol set when it
is needed, then it interferes with work and individuals
become quickly dissatisfied (e.g., one has a straight-
edged screwdriver when a Philips-head is required).
Conveyance
Convergence
Symbol Variety
Parallelism
Feedback
Rehearsability
Reprocessability
Production
Group Well-being
Member Support
Figure 1
Dimensions of Task Functions, Communication Processes,
and Media Characteristics
Media Characteristics
Communication Processes
Task Functions
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