The Effect of Organizational Level on Employees’ Computer-Mediated-Communication (CMC) Use

This paper addresses the research question, "Who is more likely to use email: high-level or low-level employees?" In discussing the question, this study reviews important literature on CMC, particularly focusing on methodological issues, and suggests two important implications. First, the findings of researchers such as Rice, Hughes, & Love (1989), Rice & Torobin (1992), and Markus (1994a; 1994b) are inconsistent with what information richness theory suggests (e.g., Daft & Lengel, 1986; Daft, Lengel, & Trevino, 1987). This contradiction might be explained by a methodological difference between the two groups of researchers – e.g., the "observational and experimental" method in Markus (1994a; 1994b) and the "projective" method used by Daft et al., 1987). Second, as the use of email becomes widespread, researchers’ interests have moved from testing whether or not managers are more likely to use email than lower level workers to identifying motivational differences between higher-level and lower-level employees in choosing the medium. This study concludes with some suggestions for overcoming the methodological limitations revealed in the previous researches.