A27. Rice,
R. E. & Shook, D. (1988). Access to, usage of, and outcomes from an
electronic message system. ACM Transactions on Office Information
Systems,
6(3), 255-276.
This study examines relationships among perceived accessibility
to an electronic messaging system (EMS), computer-monitored and
reported
usage of the system by approximately 100 employees of one division of
an
aerospace firm, user's job type, perceived appropriateness of the EMS,
and reported outcomes such as changes ineffectiveness and use of
paper-based
media. Greater accessibility resulted in more usage and reported
increases
in effectiveness. Physical distance to a terminal affects the
associations
of other aspects of accessibility with usage and has a greater
influence
on these associations earlier in one's adoption process. Differences in
job type showed statistically significant associations with usage,
independent
of the influence of accessibility. Computer-monitored and reported
usage
measures were only moderately correlated and were differentially
associated
with the access measures and with the two outcomes. The article ends by
discussing implications for implementation and evaluation of
computer-based
communication systems, theories of media characteristics and
information
value, and methodological issues in using computer-monitored usage data.
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