Effect of media richness on user acceptance of blogs and podcasts

Abstract

Effective communication has long been recognised as a key element in problem solving and decision making within and among organisations including educational institutions. With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, the communication choices have also been expanded. Media Richness Theory (MRT) has long been used to examine the effect of traditional and new media on decision making. However, less is known about media richness of Web 2.0 technologies. This paper attempts to examine the media richness capabilities of two popular Web 2.0 technologies, blogs and podcasts, and its effect on user acceptance of these two technologies in Computer Science education. A theoretical model is presented using MRT and technology acceptance model (TAM). Students enrolled in Bachelor / Master of Computer Science programs participated in an online survey that helped in evaluating the proposed model. The study findings confirm the significant effect of media richness on user acceptance of blogs and podcasts but contradict MRT as rich medium (podcast) exerted weaker influence on user acceptance as compared to lean medium (blog).