Media Richness Theory
The Media Richness Theory originated from the information processing theory (Sun & Cheng, 2005).
It was developed by Daft, Lengel, and Trevino.
The theory states that effectiveness between people communicating is affected by the appropriateness of the media used and the type of communication task occuring (Sun & Cheng, 2005). According to Daft and Lengel (1984), media richness is the capacity to smooth the progress of shared meaning and understanding (Sun & Cheng, 2005). Communication that can clear up unclear issues to change somebody's understanding in a short amount of time is said to be rich. While on the other hand, communications that take a long time to receive understanding, or overcome different points of view are considered low (Sun & Cheng, 2005). The more unclear a task is, the richer the media is needed for comprehension to occur.
An example can be if you are making a phone call, the receiver of the message cannot see your gestures, so this would be considered less rich. If you use a video conference call, then they will be able to see your gestures and cues making this rich (Sun & Cheng, 2005).
Picture from (ius.edu)
Click here to view an example of how richer media can give you more information on what is going on at the other end of the conversation.
