A Theory of Electronic Propinquity

Abstract

This paper proposes a theoretical approach to mediated communication in organizations. It is argued that the man-machine interface in mediated human communication is better dealt with when a comprehensive theoretical approach is used, than when separate communication devices are tested as they appear in the market, such as video-teleconferencing. Propinquity is considered to be the system's trait which is essential for the continuation of the human communication system in organizations. In a structural-functional analysis, six propositions, 15 derived corollaries, and two-limits propositions are presented. The variables included in the propositions are: (a) perceived propinquity; (b) perceived bandwidth; (c) perceived complexity of the information; (d) perceived degree of mutual directionality of the channel; (e) communication skills; (f) perceived communication rules; (g) perceived number of choices among channels; (h) perceived conflict; and (i) perceived turbulence in the environment. Evidence from past research is used to support the perspective presented.

Ambient intimacy on Twitter

“…Intimacy refers to a feeling of closeness, and ambient refers to the peripheral process of developing intimacy by aimless browsing and spontaneous interactions on social media. The concept of ambient intimacy shows some similarities with existing concepts such as "electronic propinquity" (Korzenny, 1978) and "parasocial relationship" (Horton & Wohl, 1956). …”

“…This creates another notion, called electronic propinquity. It is conceptualized as "a continuum of the subjective perception an individual holds that he or she is functionally, if not physically, close to someone else" (Korzenny, 1978). In this regard, combined with the concept of ambient, ambient intimacy can also be treated as electronic propinquity unconsciously developed via social media.…”

Effectiveness of Politicians' Soft Campaign on Twitter Versus TV: Cognitive and Experiential Routes

“…At the same time, other researchers have underscored perceived immediacy of the interactants as the core element of social presence and defined it as how strongly a person feels as if she were ''with'' the communication partner in a given situation Lee & Nass, 2005). Albeit less prominent in the CMC literature, Korzenny's (1978) electronic propinquity, also referred to as ''electronic presence'' (p. 7), similarly concerns the perceptions of both spatial and temporal nearness in mediated interaction, and was hypothesized to predict communicative satisfaction and task accomplishment.…”

Software architecture for medical distributed manage systems

“…These events can then be acted upon by management components, such as the reactive objects investigated in earlier research at Lancaster [22]. Monitoring components themselves are a well-defined way of interfacing to particular QoS monitoring systems.…”