Abstract

There has been mounting evidence that the predictions of the media richness theory do not hold in a number of situations. For example, a number of studies indicate that a lean medium can be the choice of groups engaged in complex tasks, even when richer media are available. However, there is very little research evidence that the adoption of a leaner medium can lead to an actual increase in group outcome quality. In this paper, we go some way towards filling this research gap, by providing evidence that groups can adapt their behavior in order to overcome the limitations of a leaner medium and produce outcomes that are perceived by group members as being of higher quality than in richer media. We studied five process improvement groups in a New Zealand university. The groups voluntarily conducted most of their interactions through an e-mail conferencing system developed by the author

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