Decision Sciences Journal
Volume 28, Number 3
Summer 1997
The Use of Computer-mediated Communication in an
Interorganizational Context
William J. Kettinger
Center for Information Management and Technology Research, College
of Business Administration, University of South Carolina, Columbia,
SC 29208, email: bill@sc.edu
Varun Grover
Department of Management Science, College of Business
Administration, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208,
email: vgrover@darla.badm.sc.edu
ABSTRACT
The rapid growth of global telecommunication networks, and in
particular the Internet, has placed emphasis on electronic mail's
potential as an interorganizational communication medium allowing
people from different organizations to communicate, gather
information, form teams, and pass knowledge across time and place.
An important area of research is to understand those factors
affecting interorganizational computer-mediated communication usage
decisions. This study examines how interorganizational electronic
mail (email) systems are being used and what factors relate to this
use. This was accomplished by electronically surveying a randomly
selected sample of interorganizational email users. The 613
Internet-based respondents were located in 20 different countries
and were from education, business, and government. This research
examines the characteristics of interorganizational email users,
their perceptions of task and channel attributes, and the
relationship between these characteristics and interorganizational
email use. Three empirically derived patterns of
interorganizational email use emerged that showed it was regularly
used for broadcast, task, and social communication. Broadcast
usage, which reflects an information- gathering communication
function, most likely through public bulletin boards, electronic
discussion groups, and list servers, was the most frequent use of
interorganizational email. Multivariate regression tests showed
that the three different usage types were best predicted from
different sets of independent variables. Results support past
claims that there is a need to differentiate among types of use in
explaining computer- mediated communication usage behavior.
Implications and recommendations for both researchers and
practitioners are drawn from the results.
Subject Areas: Electronic Mail, Internet,
Interorganizational Computer-mediated Communication, and Usage
Model.
|