Media Richness Theory – A Review of Literature
The use of the media to pass and access information has increased over the past decade due to technological advancements leading to media richness. Several types of media facilitate communication between people in various geographical locations and enable people to have access to a wide range of information. Lee and Ramos Salazar (2023) define media richness as the ability of information to alter people’s understanding within a specific time. Media richness is impacted by several factors, including the communication medium used by the people engaging in an interaction. For instance, synchronous media, such as live chat and telephone sessions, increases media richness compared to asynchronous media, such as email and memos. Several types of media also differ based on the ability to pass value-oriented information and norms and the multiplicity of communication cues such as physical gestures and tone. Media also plays a vital role in communicating an individual’s social presence based on warmth, sociability, and humanness. Therefore, media is vital in eliciting or creating emotions and personal feelings that create a personal focus in a message and improve communication effectiveness by increasing the message’s relevance and the involvement of the receiver. However, it is important to distinguish between communication contexts that require media richness and those that do not because media richness impacts the amount of information shared.
The concept of media richness is interpreted based on the media richness theory. According to Lee and Ramos Salazar (2023), media richness theory posits that the performance of a task can be improved if the needs of the task are matched to the medium’s ability to pass information relating to the task. Rich media allows users to use a variety of languages, cues, and personalization and get more rapid feedback. The cues involve diverse ways through which information is passed, such as tone. Media richness theory also suggests that some media can transmit information better based on whether the information is used equivocally or in uncertainty. Uncertainty may arise when the selected communication framework offers a strategy to interpret the message, but there is a lack of information that can be interpreted and processed. Conversely, equivocality arises when there are multiple interpretations of the framework or information that should be interpreted. The level of equivocality and uncertainty is influenced by the level of media richness hence the need to understand the concept of media richness and the media richness theory to create effective communication and eliminate issues that could cause uncertainty.
Media richness theory also suggests that communication media can be categorized into a hierarchy based on the level of media richness. For example, face-to-face communication is at the top of the hierarchy in categorizing media richness, followed by other types of media, such as computer-mediated communication. The comparison between face-to-face communication and computer-mediated communication demonstrates the impact of rich media in communication. For instance, face-to-face communication is considered rich media because it facilitates collaboration among the people engaging in the conversation. Computer-mediated communication is considered to have low levels of media richness because it is dominated by online interactions. Therefore, media richness is vital in all communication contexts. This report will review the literature on various themes linked to the media richness theory, including the relationship between media richness and social presence, the relationship between media richness theory and Information Communication Technology (ICT) acceptance, and the role of media richness in communication.
Literature Review
Relationship Between Media Richness and Social Presence
Numerous studies have established the relationship between media richness and social presence. According to Öztok and Kehrwald (2020), social presence includes two dimensions. The first dimension comprises definitions that consider a less emotional comprehension of being real and present. These definitions consider realness based on whether a person can sense that they are interacting with a human being and not a machine and interpret being present as the ability to determine whether the other person engaging in the conversation is actively engaged. The second dimension includes definitions that consider emotions. These definitions are considered real and present based on what a person considers authentic or unique and whether a person is caring and supportive. Therefore, researchers may consider being real from an emotional perspective but present from a less emotional perspective. Social presence may also be reviewed in terms of one-on-one communication or be conceptualized as various forms of communication because some researchers consider social presence in terms of perceptions and human behaviours and developing a sense of belonging (Öztok & Kehrwald, 2020). Therefore, it is important to consider these interpretations of social prudence to establish the link between media richness and social presence accurately.
Dennis and Valacich (2019) argue that the social presence theory influences the dimension of media richness since most of the media richness theory is founded on the assumption that increasing media richness increases social presence. For example, the success of communication requires the receiver to understand the message the sender was planning to send and ensure that both the receiver and sender agree that the receiver has understood the message. According to Dennis and Valacich (2019), social presence is the quality of the communication medium. Therefore, communications media are differentiated based on the level of social presence, which makes the variations important in determining how people interact. In addition, Dennis and Valacich (2019) argue that people may consider some media, such as face-to-face, as having a high social presence and others, such as computer-mediated communication, as having low social presence based on each channel’s immediacy and intimacy levels.
Intimacy levels in communication are also influenced by factors such as the physical distance between the people engaging in the conversation and the use of nonverbal and verbal cues. On the other hand, immediacy includes the degree of psychological distance between the people engaging in the conversation (Lowenthal & Snelson, 2020). Therefore, social presence may act as a barrier in nonverbal and verbal communication by influencing the psychological and physical closeness of the people engaging in the conversation and the communication medium used. Dennis and Valacich (2019) add that social presence also plays a vital role in online communication because it influences people’s attitudes toward communication. For example, a lack of social presence may result in high frustration, which could impact effective communication.
According to Christen et al. (2022), social presence is linked to the use of computer-mediated communication tools and electronic platforms that transfer group dynamics and face-to-face interpersonal communication. The authors add that social presence also plays a significant role in group dynamics through social interaction, and social interaction may promote social presence. Therefore, social presence is essential in understanding interpersonal communication, how relationships are built through telecommunication media, and its impact on communication in social contexts. Christen et al. (2022) state that every telecommunication medium has some level of communication support, which impacts how other people involved in the communication are considered as present or real. Social presence also differs based on the type of media used to communicate, thus affecting the nature of interaction. One of the main factors that impact the role of social presence in communication is immediacy, which includes the nonverbal and verbal approach behaviours that, when combined, communicate interest, closeness, availability, and warmth in communication. Social presence is also influenced by intimate behaviours in communication, such as conversation topic, proximity, and eye contact. Therefore, changes in intimacy or immediacy can cause a compensating change in each factor. Mykola (2018) adds that understanding the context of social presence has become a more multi-faceted complex phenomenon because it is applicable in various disciplines, including social psychology, higher education, information technology, educational psychology, and computer science. Therefore, the authors conclude that understanding social presence is challenging, which makes it hard to determine how it should be defined in social interactions.
Another study by Gyamfi (2018) established that social presence and media richness are interrelated concepts. Rich media provides a greater perception of presence than media with medium richness (Gyamfi, 2018). This argument suggests that rich media increases interaction, leading to high social presence. Gyamfi (2018) also notes that people feel more psychologically close to each other when they find high social presence levels in their interactions. Subsequently, Wang (2022) connects the need for social presence with the need to belong hypothesis, which suggests that people should have frequent interactions they consider positive with the people they consider to be offering an equal amount of care for their well-being. Therefore, the extent to which social presence affects well-being and loneliness depends on the ability of a specific channel to pass detailed messages. According to Wang (2022), rich media channels enable people to share more information at a given time, thus decreasing the possibility of ambiguity and uncertainty between people engaging in a conversation. For instance, face-to-face interactions are richer than text messages because of the amount of non-verbal and verbal cues. The main factors that influence a media channel’s richness include the media’s capacity to provide immediate feedback, personalization, the number of channels and cues, and the variety of language. For instance, leaner channels, which have lower richness levels, have fewer cues, and limit the speed and amount of feedback, thus reducing social presence.
Numerous studies have also explored the differences in media richness and social presence across different media. For instance, Park et al. (2012) conducted a study that compared cell phone texting to email and Facebook communication to determine media richness. The study established that texting offers less media richness compared to Facebook interactions. Another study by Lee et al. (2011) compared media richness in an online dating site. The study established that cognitive effort is minimized when fewer efforts are required to decode the message. They also concluded that the media richness in online dating sites is influenced by people’s perceptions of memory, behavioural intentions, and the person at the other end of the conversation. The existence of media richness in different channels was also explored in a study by Lan & Sie (2010). The study focused on the relationship between accuracy, timeliness, and media richness in email and social networks. The study established that email had high media richness because it enables the exchange of more content. The authors recommended using email to communicate when there is a need to share a lot of information.
The Relationship between Media Richness and ICT Acceptance
The relationship between media richness and ICT acceptance can be understood by focusing on the influence of media richness on continuance intention. Continuance intention is defined as a person’s intention to continue using something (Wang, 2022). Wang (2022) argues that media richness impacts ICT acceptance based on whether the communication channel offers a low, medium, or high ability to provide feedback. Another study by Gyamfi (2018) established that there is a strong relationship between the depth and breadth of the information supplied by social media applications, thus suggesting that social media applications are accepted in communication because they have high media richness. According to Wang (2022), online platforms that allow people to express themselves and share a variety of information are accepted because they have varying levels of media richness that create different user experiences.
ICT acceptance is also influenced by whether the selected media channel can facilitate the exchange of information without creating uncertainty. Notably, uncertain messages passed through various media, such as short writings and texts, have a low level of richness, leading to high uncertainty and equivocality (Wang, 2022). The author defines equivocality as the vagueness that makes people make conflicting interpretations about a situation or subject. Ambiguous messages are passed through media with high richness, thus creating the opportunity to reduce uncertainty when people improve their interpersonal communication skills. Therefore, media richness can be used to eliminate ambiguousness by embracing the fur criteria for effective communication, which includes focusing on the personal needs of the people engaging in the conversation, the use of a language that can be understood by the receiver, enabling the receiver to provide feedback, and facilitating the use of various cues. These factors can impact ICT acceptance by increasing the acceptance of ICT media that accommodates the needs of the receiver and sender during interactions.
According to Sheer (2020), human behaviour in communication can be interpreted based on the media richness theory and its effectiveness and efficiency. The author notes that in the management setting, managers select media that offer a wide range of information that can match the level of equivocality in communicating the requirements of a task. Sheer (2020) suggests that human communication involves self-presentational, relational, and instrumental goals and is goal-oriented or purposeful. Therefore, communicators focus on simultaneously achieving various goals that are often arranged in a hierarchy and have different salience because of perceived constraints or demands. Further, Sheer (2020) gives an example of managers in charge of interrelated aspects of people management and productivity in any organization. The author states that the manager’s responsibility in such a situation may include seeking or providing feedback, giving directions, and assigning jobs to subordinates, hence the need to use rich media channels. Therefore, managers can focus on choosing information technologies that promote interactions between them and their followers to prevent uncertainty, which could lead to mistakes and conflict. The acceptance of information communication technology is also impacted by parallelism, processability, and repeatability, which are linked to media richness (Sheer, 2020).
Parallelism is the number of simultaneous conversations that can effectively exist within a medium (Sheer, 2020). The idea of parallelism is explained by comparing telephone conversations with electronic media conversations. For instance, telephone conversations only allow one effective conversation at a time. Consequently, electronic media can be customized to support several conversations simultaneously. Second, processability includes the extent to which a message can be processed or re-examined again in a communication event. Reherarsability, on the other hand, consists of the extent to which the media helps a sender understand a message by editing it before they send it to ensure that the intended meaning is not distorted.
The Role of Media Richness in Communication
The role of media richness in communication can be observed in the impact of media richness on interactions between teams. According to Aritz et al. (2018), virtual teams with rich communication channels have better coordination and achieve better results than teams with limited media richness. The channels include interactive tools such as Google Docs. Artiz et al. (2018) add that traditional tools such as email are less effective for interactions between team members because they limit collaboration and increase uncertainty because of limited access to information.
Another study by Wang (2017) focused on the link between the media richness theory and information processing theory to determine the role of media richness in communication by assessing the choice of social media channels used in communication. The authors established that Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook are the best marketing platforms based on media richness because they allow users to offer immediate feedback through multiple communication options, including audio, video, and text, in addition to the availability of various communication tools such as posts and comments. According to Wang et al. (2017), Facebook is the richest platform because it meets the criteria for rich media, including personalization of communication content and access to immediate feedback. The authors argue that Twitter is less rich because users must meet a specific character limit. Another study by Cao et al. (2021) established that the richness of social media platforms allows customers who like fashion items to use various resources and tools to engage the fashion brands, leading to various engagement levels. For instance, customers can consume fashion-related media by commenting on posts, liking them, and asking questions about the products. Therefore, the richness of social media platforms promotes interactive marketing by promoting engagement among the consumers and between the consumers and the brand.
The impact of media richness on communication has also been explored by a study by Robert and Dennis (2005). The authors focus on the impact of media richness on attention, motivation, and ability to process information. Attention plays a vital role in communication because it influences the receiver’s understanding of the information shared by the sender. Therefore, the sender must have the receiver’s attention for effective communication to occur. Robert and Dennis (2005) argue that the role of media richness in communication is evident in the impact of social presence on attention. The authors note that greater social presence increases the receiver’s commitment to participate in the interaction. For instance, the receiver may be willing to spend more on the interaction when there is a high social presence because the cost is influenced by the level of commitment.
Several types of media also require various levels of commitment. For instance, face-to-face interactions require high commitment levels on the receiver’s part because they must be physically present at a specific time and place to engage in an interaction. The receiver must commit their attention to the message when using a high social presence media, thus increasing their motivation to hear (Robert & Dennis, 2005). The intention and effort to devote to the communication process also increases when the attention levels increase. Notably, the receiver can choose to ignore a message when there is low social presence because the receiver does not have to commit themselves to a specific place or time (Robert & Dennis, 2005). Therefore, the message must compete with other activities, such as other messages shared in high social media presence media, to get the receiver’s attention. For instance, if a sender uses a media channel with a low social presence, such as email, the receiver may spend more time going through other messages and fail to see the email.
The impact of media richness on communication is also evident in the impact of urgency on communication. Robert and Dennis (2005) argue that when messages are urgent, the sender develops an interest in knowing if the receiver has seen the message and whether the receiver will respond immediately and elaborate on the message they receive. The urgency of a message and the need for attention increase the demand for rich media to ensure the sender has the receiver’s full motivation and attention. Media richness also impacts the receiver’s ability to process information. Accordingly, if people are motivated to interpret the information they receive from the sender, they are likely to process the information faster (Robert & Dennis, 2005). Therefore, the next step is to ensure that the receiver can process the information within the required time to determine whether elaboration is needed. According to Robert and Dennis (2005), the ability to process information is affected by factors such as the availability of space to store the information, the intelligence to follow arguments, and the time given to process the information. Therefore, it is important to use a communication channel that increases the receiver’s ability to process information by providing as much information as possible and being available to provide feedback.
Moreover, when a person can elaborate on a message, more unwanted exposure to more information may decrease the acceptance of the message, thus reducing communication effectiveness (Robert & Dennis, 2005). This argument is evident in the concept of reprocess ability, which is the extent to which the re-examination or processing of a message can occur. Reprocessability also reduces the negative impacts of being exposed to too much information by allowing the receiver to determine the amount of information they consume. Rich media with high social media presence is different from media with low social presence in terms of the ability to offer processability by allowing the receiver to elaborate the information they receive at their own will. Robert and Dennis (2005) note that low social presence in media offers a higher level of processability that enables the receiver to think about difficult or important points. Therefore, when a message is sent through a low social presence channel, the receiver gets more time to interpret and understand the message.
The receiver can also take their time to interpret the message by reviewing various sources of similar information. The authors give examples of additional sources of information in email communication, such as attached documents and links. On the other hand, media with high social presence do not allow people to elaborate on the information they receive at their own will because of the need or perception to respond promptly to avoid disruptions in the conversation in real-time. This creates a major challenge in communication because when a receiver is offered the same amount of information to process, they focus on reducing the amount of information that should be processed. Rich media also increases the complexity of processing information because it gives the receiver less ability to ace various sources of information. Further, rich media with a high social presence can also impact the receiver’s memory, making it challenging to apply previously stored information (Robert & Dennis, 2005). Therefore, the ability to process information is more in low social media presence.
Media richness also impacts communication by increasing or reducing message complexity. Complex messages need high processing ability but low processing ability in rich media (Robert & Dennis, 2005). People may also face a limitation on the information they can recall, process, and accept when they receive complex messages. Individuals are less likely to elaborate a message in a high social presence when the message is complex. A receiver may also ignore a message if they find it too complex and have limited access to alternative sources of information. However, the impact of media richness on communication can be regulated through media switching. Notably, media switching includes selecting a media channel that allows the receiver to process information accurately and faster and gain the motivation and attention of the receiver (Robert & Dennis, 2005).
Robert and Dennis (2005) add that attention and motivation increase the ability to process, which is why senders may be confused about balancing motivation and attention with the ability to process. However, determining the most appropriate media impacts the sender’s ability to assist the receiver in understanding the message. The receiver may also choose to combine different media channels to help the receiver process the information accurately. Markedly, using mixed media or switching media can help avoid the drawbacks of low and high social presence media and capitalize on their advantage (Robert & Dennis, 2005). Therefore, a sender can use a medium with a high social presence when they want to get the attention of the receiver and motivate them. However, when deliberation and thought are required to process the message, a sender can use a medium with low social presence. Robert and Dennis (2005) add that various media are needed at various stages in the decision-making process, and decision-makers should manage the flow of information by selecting the appropriate media channel to prevent information overload. Therefore, media switching can be considered when there is a need to increase the performance of a task that needs decision convergence and the dissemination of information.
Conclusion
Media richness is an interesting concept that explains how people receive and process information. This research has established that the media richness theory’s main argument is that the performance of a task can be improved if the needs of the task are matched to the medium’s ability to pass information relating to the task. The research has also established a connection between media richness and social presence. For instance, the social presence theory influences the dimension of media richness since most of the media richness theory is founded on the assumption that the increase in media richness increases social presence. The research has also established that media richness plays a vital role in ICT acceptance by influencing continuance intention, which is a person’s intention to continue using something. Also, media richness plays various roles in communication. One of the main roles is to influence attention and motivation to interpret the message sent by a sender. The second role is influencing the analysis of the information shared by the sender. The third role is influencing the attitude of the receiver towards the sender. Moving forward, further research should be conducted on the role of media richness in communication to include more information beyond attention, motivation, and analysis. For example, additional research may consider exploring the role of media richness in influencing the choice of communication tools and channels. Further research is also needed to determine the role of media richness on ICT acceptance or the acceptance of various communication tools. For instance, the research may focus on the impact of media richness on the use of various social media platforms without focusing on the marketing aspect since existing studies have focused on how media richness affects the preference for social media platforms.
References
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Christen, S., Violanti, M., & Morrow, J. (2022). Creating a social presence measure: Self-rated behaviours that indicate mediated presence. Online Learning, 26(3). https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v26i3.2202
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Question 
You will choose one theory we have/will cover in this class. You will write a review of the literature focused on this one theory.
Reviews of literature are typically the second section of an academic manuscript. The purpose of a literature review is to bring the reader up to speed about what is going on within academic circles about the given topic/variables/theories.
Media Richness Theory – A Review of Literature
You will write an introduction section focused on your theory of choice and why it matters. You will then produce a review of the literature with 2-3 themes organized by second-level headings. You will then write a conclusion that answers the “so what” question.