Exploring the influence of instant messaging and video conferencing on the quality of project communication

Abstract

Growth in computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies such as instant messaging (IM) and video conferencing (VC) has led to a need to explore the utilisation and influence of these tools on the quality of project communication, which must still be established. This article reports the results of a survey conducted among 210 project practitioners using CMC in various industries to determine how, why and what each medium is used for, and how these media influence factors that promote quality communication. Some results showed that the use of both instant messaging and video conferencing in projects is moderate and both improve the quality of communication in virtual teams, however in different ways.

Keywords

• Project communication
• instant messaging
• computer-mediated communication
• video conferencing
• virtual teams