A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Communication Tools and Communication Outcomes

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shin-Yuan Hung ◽  
Tsan-Ching Kang ◽  
David Yen ◽  
Albert Huang ◽  
Kuanchin Chen

Computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies have benefited business organizations in many ways. Although there have been numerous studies on email use, studies have only begun to emerge regarding use patterns of instant messaging (IM). This study investigated the use of email and IM within two different cultural settings: United States and Taiwan. Students enrolled in MIS courses from each country were split randomly into the IM and email groups for a problem-solving assignment. The variations of communication outcomes (as measured in volume, quality, and use satisfaction), are checked against two categorical variables (i.e., culture and communication tools), and at the same time controlled for perception on tool ease of use. Results show that culture and communication tools jointly affect all three outcome variables individually. The main effects were also statistically significant for volume and quality, but not for satisfaction. Respondents from different cultures prefer different communication methods, which are also collectively constrained by other factors like preference over contextual information and social norms. Such a difference in media preference, combined with media traits jointly affects the outcomes of communication. Managerial implications are provided.

2018 ◽  
pp. 340-357
Author(s):  
Carmen E. Macharaschwili ◽  
Linda Skidmore Coggin

Universities are challenged with providing quality educational experiences that meet students' needs for engagement and collaboration. The availability of computer-mediated communication tools provides opportunities for such needs to be met as well as allows students the opportunity to complete higher education degree requirements in virtual environments This chapter discusses how Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) was used in a unique Skype-Buddy system to provide virtual face-to-face participation in traditional doctoral classrooms. Students' and professors' satisfaction, benefits, challenges, and surprises in this system are examined. Results and recommendations from this study are applicable in undergraduate and secondary level classrooms.


Author(s):  
Carmen E. Macharaschwili ◽  
Linda Skidmore Coggin

Universities are challenged with providing quality educational experiences that meet students’ needs for engagement and collaboration. The availability of computer-mediated communication tools provides opportunities for such needs to be met as well as allows students the opportunity to complete higher education degree requirements in virtual environments This chapter discusses how Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) was used in a unique Skype-Buddy system to provide virtual face-to-face participation in traditional doctoral classrooms. Students’ and professors’ satisfaction, benefits, challenges, and surprises in this system are examined. Results and recommendations from this study are applicable in undergraduate and secondary level classrooms.


Author(s):  
Lauren E. Sherman ◽  
Minas Michikyan ◽  
Patricia M. Greenfield

Considerable research on computer-mediated communication has examined online communication between strangers, but little is known about the emotional experience of connectedness between friends in digital environments. However, adolescents and emerging adults use digital communication primarily to communicate with existing friends rather than to make new connections. We compared feelings of emotional connectedness as they occurred in person and through digital communication among pairs of close friends in emerging adulthood. Fifty-eight young women, recruited in pairs of close friends, engaged in four conversations each: in-person, video chat, audio chat, and instant messaging (IM). Bonding in each condition was measured through both self-report and affiliation cues (i.e., nonverbal behaviors associated with the emotional experience of bonding). Participants reported feeling connected in all conditions. However, bonding, as measured by both self-report and affiliation cues, differed significantly across conditions, with the greatest bonding during in-person interaction, followed by video chat, audio chat, and IM in that order. Compared with other participants, those who used video chat more frequently reported greater bonding with friends through video chat in our study. Compared with other participants, those who spoke on the phone more frequently with their participating friend reported greater bonding during audio chat. Use of textual affiliation cues like emoticons, typed laughter, and excessive letter capitalization during IM related to increased bonding experience during IM. Nonetheless, a significantly lower level of bonding was experienced in IM compared with in-person communication. Because adolescent and emerging adults’ digital communication is primarily text-based, this finding has significant real-world implications.


2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Habib ◽  
Dennis Kurzon

This study investigates a new writing system based on the Roman script that has been used by Israeli Arabs in Israel for about ten years. This system is associated with instant messaging (IM); people usually use it when sending SMSs or when utilizing any of the computer-mediated communication forms, such as Messenger. The paper focuses on the systematization and the typology of this writing system based on data collected from about 40 participants studying in the same school. The results show that most of the participants have used this system systematically, and that this system can be classified as a developing alphabet.


1997 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geri Gay ◽  
Kirsten Boehner ◽  
Tara Panella

Considering the educational importance of dialogue among students, faculty, and professionals, this article examines a computer-mediated communication tool designed to support online learning through conversation. ArtView, developed by Cornell University's Interactive Multimedia Group, allows groups of learners to converse from disparate locations in a shared space while viewing an image that has been pre-loaded by the instructor. An online database provides a ready-reference, allowing the instructor to customize background or contextual information necessary to supplement the online conversations. This article describes and reports the results of user-testing conducted in conjunction with a college course, “Art in the Electronic Age.” Through qualitative techniques, learners compare and contrast their experiences in a face-to-face guided visit and discussion with a computer-mediated viewing and discussion using ArtView. Museums were seen as providing an attractive element of personal choice and an outstanding physical viewing environment. ArtView lacked these elements and tended to homogenize the artworks with its two-dimensional display limitations. However, most students reported levels of satisfaction with the quality and convenience of the computer-mediated communication (CMC) aspects sufficient to make up for the limitations. The article concludes with suggestions on how educators might augment learning by combining the strengths of the online and museum experiences.


Communication ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eun-Ju Lee ◽  
Soo Youn Oh

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is an umbrella term that encompasses various forms of human communication through networked computers, which can be synchronous or asynchronous and involve one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many exchanges of text, audio, and/or video messages. Early research has focused largely on how mediation by technology alters the processes and outcomes of social interaction and group processes, addressing issues such as how people express and construe self-identity, form and manage impressions, develop and maintain relationships, build communities, collaborate at a distance and make collective decisions, mostly in contrast to non-mediated, face-to-face communication. As such, core theories that guided earlier studies highlight the dearth of socio-contextual information as the defining characteristic of CMC working to its disadvantage. However, they were soon challenged by alternative models underscoring individual users’ active accommodation to the limited channel capacity and even more strategic appropriation of the constraints of the medium. In a similar vein, the dichotomous view that differentiates the “real” from the “virtual” gradually was replaced by the perspective that underscores the blurring boundary and the fluid interaction between the two. At the same time, researchers have also investigated who turns to online communication as opposed to offline, face-to-face interaction, and with what consequences. Going beyond dyadic interaction between unacquainted individuals, social and psychological implications of CMC have also been examined in various contexts, such as distributed workgroups (computer-supported cooperative work: CSCW), social network sites (SNSs), and online games.


Author(s):  
Sarah Rofofsky Marcus

This chapter introduces synchronous, one-on-one, computer mediated communication. A discussion then is presented on the growth of typewritten, synchronous communication, beginning with the Tele- Typewriter/Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TTY/TDD), and how instant messaging (IM) can benefit those who are deaf, and also others who wish to communicate rapidly without the use of a telephone or face-to-face (f2f) communication. Besides discussing benefits of synchronous, text-based, one-on-one communication, this chapter will also address the downfall to the written communication caused by the overuse of abbreviations and emoticons that is coming into regular use outside of the IM environment. After the author examines the pros and cons of CMC via IM, implications of the growth of CMC via IM are considered.


2022 ◽  
pp. 136216882110649
Author(s):  
Joy Maa ◽  
Naoko Taguchi

Increasingly prevalent use of technologies such as instant messaging and online chat has transformed our traditional ways of learning and teaching pragmatics. This study presents an example of such transformation by demonstrating how computer-mediated communication (CMC) may be employed as a tool to provide second language (L2) learners opportunities to use interactional resources specific to the context of CMC, namely unique orthography and emoji. For the study, we introduced four university-level learners of Japanese to a language exchange messaging application and recorded their online text-based chat interactions with native Japanese speakers over a period of 12 weeks. We followed up the chat data with weekly stimulated verbal recalls (SVR) to investigate L2 learners’ intentions and perceptions surrounding their own and others’ use of unique orthography and emoji (48 SVR sessions total; average 30 minutes per session). Coding and thematic analysis of the chat data revealed learners’ agentive use of orthography and emoji as resources for communication. In addition, the SVR data revealed a variety of personal and interpersonal reasons behind their use, including learners’ concerns over self-presentation, interpersonal relationships, identity, and discourse management. The findings not only demonstrate how CMC can afford learners a unique environment for experimenting with a range of context-appropriate interactional resources to convey pragmatic meaning, but also shed light on the various, sometimes competing, considerations and complex processes underlying learners’ pragmatic choices in CMC.


2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 525-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Muir ◽  
Adam Joinson ◽  
Rachel Cotterill ◽  
Nigel Dewdney

Communication accommodation theory predicts that social power plays an important role in influencing communicative behaviors. Previous research suggests these effects extend to linguistic style, thought to be a nonconscious aspect of communication. Here, we explore if these effects hold when individuals converse using a medium limited in personal cues, computer-mediated communication. We manipulated social power in instant messaging conversations and measured subsequent interpersonal impressions. Low power induced greater likelihood of linguistic style accommodation, across between- (Study 1) and within-subjects (Study 2) experiments. Accommodation by those in a low-power role had no impact on impressions formed by their partner. In contrast, linguistic style accommodation by individuals in a high-power role was associated with negative interpersonal impressions formed by their lower power partner. The results show robust effects of power in shaping language use across computer-mediated communication. Furthermore, the interpersonal effects of linguistic accommodation depend on the conversational norms of the social context.


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