Effects of Medium Experience on Medium Perception and Communication Process

텍스트매체 사용에 있어서 매체 경험이 매체 인지와 의사소통과정에 미치는 영향

The objective of this study is to examine the media richness theory and the social information processing model by analyzing the effect of media experience on media perception and communication process. To accomplish this objective, a laboratory experiment was conducted. The independent variable was text medium experience and a face-to-face medium was added as a control group. The dependent variables were medium perception and communication process. Medium perception includes perceived richness, medium feeling, task satisfaction, and communication satisfaction. Communication processes were also analyzed to compare each treatment group. The results can be summarized into two facts. First, face-to-face group showed higher perceived richness than text medium group. And experienced text medium group perceived their text medium richer than inexperienced text medium group. Second, experienced text medium groups showed more interactions between subjects than inexperienced text medium group. Experienced text medium group also showed more agreements and meta-communication which could be found in face-to-face group. The result of this study supported media richness theory by finding that face-to-face medium was perceived richer than text medium, And the results also proved social information processing model by comparing experienced text medium group and inexperienced text medium group. The text medium, although thought to be the leanest one, could be perceived richer if users had lots of experience on it.