The Hermeneutic Circle as a Source of Emergent Richness in the Managerial Use of Electronic Mail

Interpreting the managerial use of e-mail as the managers themselves understand and experience it, this study uses the concept of the hermeneutic circle to provide a thick description of three ways through which richness emerges in e-mail communication. In this study, I attempt to further our theoretical underthe positive and constructive task of building a new understanding of communication richness. I do this by taking an standing that can adequately explain communication richinterpretive approach. I examine empirical material that ness. involves the use of electronic mail by managers. The second way in which this study is different is that, Past studies have empirically established that e-mail can from a hermeneutic perspective, it will contribute a new readily support communication richness and have proceeded definition of communication richness. to the next research task of accounting for how the communication richness occurs (Markus 1991, 1992; Lee 1993). My first purpose in this study is to continue in this task. 1. THE VALUE OF A HERMENEUTIC Interpretilig the managerial use of e-mail as the managers PERSPECTIVE 11:emselves understand and experience it, I provide a thick description of three ways through which richness emerges Interpretive research draws attention to the "subjective in e-mail communication. My second purpose is to highunderstanding" (how the observed human subjects underlight, for research on the managerial use of electronic stand themselves and the world around them) as an objeccommunication systems, the value of an interpretive pertively existing entity in itself that is part of the overall spective in particular, the interpretive perspective of the subject matter that the researcher is observing (Lee 1991). hermeneutic circle. Positivist research, which is the form of research that most information systems researchers consider traditional, does Compared to past studies on e-mail and communication not draw attention to (if indeed it even acknowledges) the richness, this study is different in two ways. First, I make subjective understanding. Because the phenomenon of the no attempt in this study to provide yet another test of managerial use of e-mail (including any richness that information richness theory (IRT) (Daft and Lengel 1986). emerges in it) is inseparable from how the managers The reason is that numerous recent studies have already themselves experience and understand it, we can gain identified serious conceptual and empirical weaknesses in insights into this phenomenon from an interpretive perspecIRT (Contractor and Eisenberg 1990; Fulk, Schmitz, and tive that we could not readily gain, if we could at all, from Steinfield 1990; Markus 1991, 1992; El-Shinnawy and a positivist perspective alone. Markus 1992; Kinney and Watson 1992; Rice 1992; Yates and Orlikowski 1992). In the words of the editor of a Of the many different types of interpretive approaches journal that is publishing one of my other studies on e-mail available, 1 select hermeneutics. Information systems (Lee 1993), any further "damning of information richness researchers have already established its value. For insta17ce, theory" would not make for a strong or interesting arguBoland (1991) uses a hermeneutic perspective to examine ment. Therefore, instead of pursuing what, at this point, how the research subjects in an experiment developed would be the negative and unconstructive task of establishmeanings for the numeric documents presented to them in ing yet another line of attack against IRL I will advance to the form of computer output. Lee (1993) explains how,