Journal
MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
Volume 54, Issue 9, Pages 1565-1578Publisher
INFORMS
DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1080.0879
Keywords
computer-mediated communications; videoconferencing; cognitive workload; heuristic systematic model
Funding
- Systems Research Center of Boston University
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This research uses dual-process cognitive theory to describe how people process information differently when it is delivered via videoconference rather than when it is delivered face-to-face. According to this theory, relative to face-to-face communication, people in videoconferences tend to be more influenced by heuristic cues-such as how likeable they perceive the speaker to be-than by the quality of the arguments presented by the speaker. This is due to the higher cognitive demands that videoconferencing places on participants. We report on a field study of medical professionals in which we found differences in information processing as predicted: participants attending a seminar via videoconference were more influenced by the likeability of the speaker than by the quality of the arguments presented, whereas the opposite pattern was true for participants attending in-person. We also found that differences in cognitive load explain these effects. The discussion on the theoretical model and associated findings explains why prior videoconference studies have not consistently found main effects for media. The findings also show that videoconferencing is not like face-to-face communication, despite apparent similarities.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available