Relationship between Information Richness and Exchange Outcomes: Moderating Effects of Media Richness and Governance Mechanisms

The present study identifies the richness levels of various Internet media and empirically examines the moderating effects of Internet media richness (rich and lean media) and Internet communication governance mechanisms (legal contracts and relational norms) on the relationships between rich and lean information communication, and exchange outcomes. This study uses regression analysis to analyze data collected from 284 Chinese companies. The analysis reveals that: (1) Rich information exchange is effective when rich Internet media is frequently used. Conversely, the effectiveness of lean information exchange is not significantly affected by the frequent use of lean Internet media; (2) While lean information exchange is effective when legal contracts are extensively utilized as a governance mechanism, rich information exchange is effective when high levels of relational norms exist; and (3) Lean information exchange is effective when a high level of plural form governance (i.e., a combination of relational norms and legal contracts) exists. Relationship between Information Richness and Exchange Outcomes: Moderating Effects of Media Richness and Governance Mechanisms