Peter R. Monge

A Test of the Individual Action Model for Organizational Information Commons

This research elaborated and empirically tested the individual action component of the collective action model as applied to individual contributions to organizational information commons. The model extended prior theory and research by making six elaborations on the classic collective action model based on unique characteristics of information goods compared to material collective goods. The structural equation model was tested via LISREL analyses of data provided by 781 respondents in three high-tech firms who had access to corporate intranets as shared information goods. The results were highly similar across organizations and indicated that (a) level of production, information retrieval, and cost predicted the perceived value of information, (b) information value and cost predicted gain, and (c) information retrieval and gain predicted the level of individual contributions to the commons.

Motivations to Resolve Communication Dilemmas in Database-Mediated Collaboration

In organizational settings, a communication dilemma exists whenever the interests of a collective (i.e., team, organization, interorganizational alliance) demand that people share privately held information, but their individual interests insteadmotivate them to withholdit. This article develops andtests an expectancy model that predicts specific conditions under which collective benefits can be made to converge with private ones, thus resolving communication dilemmas and motivating voluntary contributions to a collectively shared database. In the model, motivation is a multiplicative function of individual-level attitudes and beliefs: (a) organizational commitment; (b) organizational instrumentality, an instrumentality that links successful collective information sharing to broader organizational gain; (c) connective efficacy, an expectation that information contributedto the database will reach other members of the collective; and(d) information self-efficacy, the self-perceivedvalue of a contributors information to other database users. The model was tested by a survey administered to members of an intact work team using a discretionary database. The multiplicative model was significant and explained sizeable amounts of variance in the motivation to contribute discretionary information. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. The model can be readily extended to predict information sharing by means of other communication media.

Expertise Directory Development, Shared Task Interdependence, and Strength of Communication Network Ties as Multilevel Predictors of Expertise Exchange in Transactive Memory Work Groups:

Building on Kozlwoski and Klein’s emergence framework, this research developed and tested a set of multilevel hypotheses regarding individual and team transactive memory processes in work teams. Literature from social psychology suggested hypotheses on how shared task interdependence influences individual expertise exchange. Social network theory suggested hypotheses that individual expertise exchange is channeled according to communication tie strength. Using data collected from 218 individuals from 18 organizational teams, the proposed hypotheses were tested using hierarchical linear modeling techniques. The results showed that at the individual level the relationship between directory development and expertise exchange was mediated by communication tie strength and moderated by shared task interdependence.Team-level variables also were significantly related to individual-level outcomes such that individual expertise exchange happened more frequently in teams with well-developed team-level expertise directories, as well as with higher team communication tie strength and shared task interdependence.

Access to Information in Connective and Communal Transactive Memory Systems

This research tested a transactive theory model of how individuals allocate and retrieve task-related information in work teams. It extended prior research by exploring the role of communal information repositories in the context of human information resources. Structural equation modeling of six integrated hypotheses revealed several significant results. First, usage of information repositories was significantly related to individual access to information. However, the relationship between individual direct information exchange with team members (the human repositories) and individual access to information was significant only among average-level users of organizational information repositories. Second, development of individual expertise directories significantly influenced individual direct information exchange with team members. Third, perceived usage of organizational information repositories by team members significantly influenced actual usage. Finally, technology-specific competence in using intranets significantly influenced the actual usage of intranets as organizational information repositories.

Measuring Proximity in Human Organization

Traditional measures of proximity all share three common weaknesses when applied to the study of human organizations: (a) they are based on linear physical distance rather than functional distance, (b) they measure distance as afixed rather than afluctuating quantity, and (c) they treat people as proximate to a single other person rather than to multiple others. A measure of proximity which attempts to deal with these problems for research in large organizations is developed in this paper. Proximity is defined as the probability of people being in the same location during the same period of time, i.e., as an opportunity for face-to-face communication made possible by people sharing a communication space and time. It is operationalized as a mean joint probability among all people in the organization. A computer program (PROXVAL) developed to calculate the required quantities is described. Data which demonstrate the usefulness of the procedure are reported.

The systems perspective as a theoretical basis for the study of human communication

This essay presents the logical and empirical requirements for studying communication from the systems perspective. Four alternatives are distinguished: open, closed, cybernetic, and structural‐functional systems. The systems perspective is contrasted with competing theoretical views, and it is argued that the systems view can incorporate important aspects of each. A brief account of the epistemic framework provided by systems is provided.

Virtual Brokerage and Closure Network Structure and Social Capital in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game

This study proposes a structural approach to examining online bridging and bonding social capital in a large virtual world. It tests the effects of individual players’ network brokerage and closure on their task performance and trust of other players. Bridging social capital is operationalized as brokerage, the extent to which one is tied to disconnected others, and bonding social capital as closure, the extent to which one is embedded in a densely connected group. Social networks were constructed from behavioral server logs of EverQuest II, a Massively Multiplayer Online Game. Results provided strong support for the structural model, demonstrating that players’ network brokerage positively predicted their task performance in the game and players embedded in closed networks were more likely to trust each other.

Advancing Research in Organizational Communication Through Quantitative Methodology

This article showcases current best practices in quantitative organizational communication research. We emphasize their value in exploring issues of the day and their relation to other research approaches. Materials are presented around four themes: systematic development and validation of measures, including the use of mixed methods; multiple levels of analysis; the study of change and development over time; and relationships among people, units, organizations, and meanings.

Research Methods for Studying Evolutionary and Ecological Processes in Organizational Communication

In a previous MCQ article, Monge et al. overviewed the fundamental concepts and processes of evolutionary theory and their applications to key issues in organizational communication. This article extends that work by providing an overview of research tools for studying organizational ecology and evolution, including (a) the variation-selection-retention sequence, (b) the likelihood of events occurring over a period of time (event history analysis), (c) transition sequence of populations from one state to another (sequence analysis), (d) relationships among nodes in networks over time (network analysis), (e) simulation of complex relationships and interactions (computational modeling), (f) changes in populations’ fitness for survival (NKC models), and (g) competitive interdependence among populations over time (predator—prey models). We conclude with a brief review of graphical and qualitative methods.

The Determinants of Communication and Communication Structure in Large Organizations: A Review of Research

Research findings from the literatures of administrative science, communication network analysis, industrial and personnel psychology, sociometry, social psychology, and sociology were combined in ...