THE DIFFERENTIAL USE OF WRITTEN, COMPUTER-BASED AND VERBAL INFORMATION IN AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT - AN EMPIRICAL EXPLORATION

The ways in which individual characteristics and task attributes affect the use of different types of information is a pertinent issue in Organisational Analysis and in the development of Information Systems. This article reports on a study which examined and compared patterns of use of written, computer-based, and verbal information by 1300 full-time employees from the Australian Telecommunications industry. The participants in this study made much more frequent use of verbal information than either written or computer derived information. Computer-derived information was the least prominent mode of communication. Patterns of information usage were found to be relatively independent of demographic characteristics such as age, tenure, job category and job rank. Nevertheless multiple regressions analysis revealed that the use of each type of information was affected by a variety of individual and organisational factors. The overall findings lend support to the suggestion that verbal information is used not as an alternative to, but in conjunction with, other forms of communication.