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M edia richness theory argues that performance improves when team members use "richer" media for equivocal tasks. This experiment studied the effects of media richness on decision making in two-person teams using "new media" (i.e., computer-mediated and video communication). Media richness was varied based on multiplicity of cues and immediacy of feedback. Subjects perceived differences in richness due to both cues and feedback, but matching richness to task equivocality did not improve decision quality, decision time, consensus change, or communication satisfaction. Use of media providing fewer cues (i.e., computer mediated communication) led to slower decisions and more so for the less equivocal task. In short, the results found no support for the central proposition of media richness theory; matching media richness to task equivocality did not improve performance.

This paper describes a new theory called a theory of media synchronicity which proposes that a set of five media capabilities are important to group work, and that all tasks are composed of two fundamental communication processes (conveyance and convergence). Communication effectiveness is influenced by matching the media capabilities to the needs of the fundamental communication processes, not aggregate collections of these processes (i.e., tasks) as proposed by media richness theory. The theory also proposes that the relationships between communication processes and media capabilities will vary between established and newly formed groups, and will change over time.

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