MEDIA APPROPRIATENESS - EFFECTS OF EXPERIENCE ON COMMUNICATION MEDIA CHOICE

Organizations are faced with a myriad of emerging advanced information technologies. Management may be anxious about the numerous choices wh ile simultaneously yearning for instant realization of benefits promis ed by the adopted technologies. Management should also be aware that t he eventual institutional use of these technologies is dependent upon the learning and training opportunities presented to individuals. Indi vidual approval or established perceptions toward technology appropria teness are mostly idiosyncratic and contingent upon numerous factors s uch as task goals or prior technology experience. This paper examines the effect of learning experiences with nine communication media, base d on perception changes of media appropriateness. Two hundred and nine ty-five MBA students participated in a longitudinal quasi-experimental study. Results indicate that traditionally rich media such as face-to -face, group meetings, and telephone were consistently perceived to be more appropriate than emerging new media over time. However, an indiv idual's specific experience with communication media affects perceptio ns of media appropriateness, and this is particularly evident in compu ter-based communications. In addition, changes in perception of media appropriateness were directly related to the participants' learning ex perience and were particularly salient with new media. Furthermore, in creased use of some media was found to be associated with decreased us e of other media. This study demonstrates that deliberate technology-u se mediation can be an effective management mechanism to facilitate an individual's ability to gain experience in the use of new technologie s. This paper also suggests that an individual's media experiences and temporal factors are two important but underemphasized factors in und erstanding and studying technology choice and use.