Feb 28, 2022

Ron Rice and Colleagues Acknowledged with a Top Four Paper Award by the Organizational Communication Division of the International Communication Association, for the 72nd Annual Conference, May 26-20, Paris, France.

W. Van Zoonen (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands); R. E. Rice (U of California, Santa Barbara); A. Sivunen (U of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland):

“Benefits and Drawbacks of Communication Visibility: From Vicarious Learning and Supplemental Work to Innovation and Overload”

This study examines some of the benefits and drawbacks of communication visibility. Specifically, we study how and why message transparency and network translucence may increase both recombinant innovation and perceived overload. Building on communication visibility theory we demonstrate that behavioral changes – i.e., vicarious learning and technology-assisted supplemental work – can mediate the relationships of transparency and translucence with innovation and overload. These results provide important insights into the differing influence of two aspects of communication visibility and contribute to an understanding of the ways in which communication visibility may be associated with both benefits and drawbacks for work outcomes.