The effect of interaction topic and social ties on media choice and the role of four underlying mechanisms

Abstract This study employed a scenario-based approach whereby participants were asked to choose which communication channel they prefer in certain situations. The first aim was to determine the effect of the topic of interactions and social ties on channel choice. The second aim was to examine the underlying mechanisms (controllability, anonymity, co-presence, and affective understanding) in the relation between interaction topic and social ties and channel choice. A questionnaire was administered among 238 participants, who were presented five communication scenarios with topics of low and high intimacy and four social ties, ranging from weak to strong. Results revealed that preference for face-to-face (FtF) communication was highest, followed by audio-only computer-mediated communication (CMC) and text-based CMC. Preference for FtF communication was higher when people valued feeling co-present and decreased when people valued feeling anonymous. Our results showed that communication channel choice is strategic and the choice for FtF ommunication, audio-only and text-based CMC largely depends on controllability, anonymity and co-presence.

[1]  E. Goffman.  The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life , 1959 .

[2]  John Short,et al.  The social psychology of telecommunications , 1976 .

[3]  D. Goldsmith.  Interpersonal conflict in organizations. , 1977, NLN publications.

[4]  B. R. Schlenker.  Impression Management: The Self-Concept, Social Identity, and Interpersonal Relations , 1980 .

[5]  P. V. Marsden,et al.  Measuring Tie Strength , 1984 .

[6]  J. A. Hatch,et al.  Impression Management in Kindergarten Classrooms: An Analysis of Children's Face‐Work in Peer Interactions , 1987 .

[7]  Penelope Brown,et al.  Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage , 1989 .

[8]  Helmut Kuzmics.  Embarrassment and Civilization: On Some Similarities and Differences in the Work of Goffman and Elias , 1991 .

[9]  E. Tseëlon.  Is the Presented Self Sincere? Goffman, Impression Management and the Postmodern Self , 1992 .

[10]  M. Markus.  Electronic Mail as the Medium of Managerial Choice , 1994 .

[11]  J. M. Kayany,et al.  Relational Control and Interactive Media Choice in Technology-Mediated Communication Situations. , 1996 .

[12]  Ruth C. King,et al.  Media Appropriateness: Effects of Experience on Communication Media Choice , 1997 .

[13]  M. Gilly,et al.  Explorations of National Culture and Word-of-Mouth Referral Behavior in the Purchase of Industrial Services in the United States and Japan , 1998 .

[14]  John R. Carlson,et al.  Channel Expansion Theory and the Experiential Nature of Media Richness Perceptions , 1999 .

[15]  Laku Chidambaram,et al.  How Much Bandwidth Is Enough? A Longitudinal Examination of Media Characteristics and Group Outcomes , 1999, MIS Q..

[16]  Caroline Haythornthwaite,et al.  Strong, Weak, and Latent Ties and the Impact of New Media , 2002, Inf. Soc..

[17]  L. Tidwell,et al.  Computer-Mediated Communication Effects on Disclosure, Impressions, and Interpersonal Evaluations: Getting to Know One Another a Bit at a Time , 2002 .

[18]  Malcolm R. Parks,et al.  Cues Filtered Out, Cues Filtered In: Computer-Mediated Communication and Relationships , 2002 .

[19]  Harry Bouwman,et al.  Content and context: an exploration of the basic characteristics of information needs , 2002, New Media Soc..

[20]  Mary M. Meares,et al.  Interpersonal conflict in organizations: Explaining conflict styles via face‐negotiation theory , 2003 .

[21]  Frank Biocca,et al.  The Effect of the Agency and Anthropomorphism on Users' Sense of Telepresence, Copresence, and Social Presence in Virtual Environments , 2003, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[22]  Wa Wijnand IJsselsteijn,et al.  Staying in touch : social presence and connectedness through synchronous and asynchonous communication media , 2003 .

[23]  Yan Bing Zhang,et al.  Social Interactions Across Media , 2004 .

[24]  Adam N. Joinson,et al.  Self-Esteem, Interpersonal Risk, and Preference for E-Mail to Face-To-Face Communication , 2004, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[25]  K. Durkin,et al.  Shyness and Computer-Mediated Communication: A Self-Presentational Theory Perspective , 2004 .

[26]  B. Barry,et al.  The Medium and the Message: The Adaptive Use of Communication Media in Dyadic Influence , 2004 .

[27]  Zbigniew Smoreda,et al.  Are social networks technologically embedded?: How networks are changing today with changes in communication technology , 2005, Soc. Networks.

[28]  Caroline Haythornthwaite,et al.  Social networks and Internet connectivity effects , 2005 .

[29]  F. Biocca,et al.  Internal Consistency and Reliability of the Networked Minds Social Presence Measure , 2006 .

[30]  Nicole B. Ellison,et al.  Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[31]  Alessandro Acquisti,et al.  Imagined Communities: Awareness, Information Sharing, and Privacy on the Facebook , 2006, Privacy Enhancing Technologies.

[32]  P. Valkenburg,et al.  Precursors and Underlying Processes of Adolescents' Online Self-Disclosure: Developing and Testing an “Internet-Attribute-Perception” Model , 2006 .

[33]  Patti M. Valkenburg,et al.  Precursors of adolescents' use of visual and audio devices during online communication , 2007, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[34]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  Addressing Moderated Mediation Hypotheses: Theory, Methods, and Prescriptions , 2007, Multivariate behavioral research.

[35]  Patti M. Valkenburg,et al.  Computer-Mediated Communication and Interpersonal Attraction: An Experimental Test of Two Explanatory Hypotheses , 2007, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[36]  Ronald E. Rice,et al.  Configurations of Relationships in Different Media: FtF, Email, Instant Messenger, Mobile Phone, and SMS , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[37]  Fraser J. M. Reid,et al.  Text or Talk? Social Anxiety, Loneliness, and Divergent Preferences for Cell Phone Use , 2007, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[38]  Dominic E. Madell,et al.  Control over Social Interactions: An Important Reason for Young People's Use of the Internet and Mobile Phones for Communication? , 2007, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[39]  G. Stald.  Mobile Identity: Youth, Identity, and Mobile Communication Media , 2007 .

[40]  Joseph B. Walther,et al.  Validation and Application of Electronic Propinquity Theory to Computer-Mediated Communication in Groups , 2008, Commun. Res..

[41]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models , 2008, Behavior research methods.

[42]  John Christian Feaster,et al.  The repertoire niches of interpersonal media: competition and coexistence at the level of the individual , 2009, New Media Soc..

[43]  Sook Jung Lee,et al.  Online Communication and Adolescent Social Ties: Who benefits more from Internet use? , 2009, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[44]  Andrew M. Ledbetter.  Patterns of media use and multiplexity: associations with sex, geographic distance and friendship interdependence , 2009, New Media Soc..

[45]  R. LaRose.  The Problem of Media Habits , 2010 .

[46]  John Christian Feaster,et al.  Expanding the Impression Management Model of Communication Channels: An Information Control Scale , 2010, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[47]  Brandi N. Frisby,et al.  Rational actors: Channel selection and rational choices in romantic conflict episodes , 2010 .

[48]  Jeffrey T. Hancock,et al.  The Disclosure–Intimacy Link in Computer‐Mediated Communication: An Attributional Extension of the Hyperpersonal Model , 2011 .

[49]  P. Valkenburg,et al.  Online communication among adolescents: an integrated model of its attraction, opportunities, and risks. , 2011, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[50]  Arvid Kappas,et al.  Face-to-face communication over the Internet: emotions in a web of culture, language, and technology , 2011 .

[51]  P. Philippot,et al.  6. Impact of social anxiety on the processing of emotional information in video-mediated interaction , 2011 .

[52]  Víctor M. González,et al.  Social Mediating Technologies: Social Affordances and Functionalities , 2011, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[53]  Patti M. Valkenburg,et al.  Interactive Uncertainty Reduction Strategies and Verbal Affection in Computer-Mediated Communication , 2012, Commun. Res..

[54]  Louisa Ha,et al.  Internet experience and time displacement of traditional news media use: An application of the theory of the niche , 2012, Telematics Informatics.

[55]  K. V. Cleemput.  FRIENDSHIP TYPE, CLIQUE FORMATION AND THE EVERYDAY USE OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN A PEER GROUP , 2012 .

[56]  Chyan Yang,et al.  Why do we blog? From the perspectives of technology acceptance and media choice factors , 2013, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[57]  Victor R. Prybutok,et al.  Investigating factors affecting social presence and user satisfaction with Mobile Instant Messaging , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[58]  van den Broek Ivf,et al.  Sexually transmitted infections in the Netherlands in 2015 , 2016 .

[59]  Alexander P. Schouten,et al.  Teasing apart the effect of visibility and physical co-presence to examine the effect of CMC on interpersonal attraction , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..