Perceptions of Intra-Organizational Collaboration and Media Workers’ Interests in Media Innovations

Abstract

This article contributes with a unique quantitative study of newspaper executives’ perceptions on the interest and collaboration contained within digital media innovation among staff in the editorial, business and IT departments. Two research questions are explored: (1) Do newspaper executives perceive that there is diverging interest in digital media innovation across the editorial, business and IT departments of their organization? (2) Amid digital media innovation, and also in relation to the interest in such activities among departments, do newspaper executives’ perceive that the collaboration between members of editorial, business and IT departments has increased? The empirical analysis draws upon two surveys of Norwegian newspaper executives conducted in April 2011 and April 2013. Results show that the various explorations of digital media are not perceived to have fostered increased collaboration between the actors in the three departments. However, there was a significant relationship related to the size of newspapers measured by circulation: larger newspapers had higher scores on intra-organizational collaboration. Media workers involved in production (editorial staff of the newsroom) and sales (business department) are perceived to be significantly less interested in digital innovation work compared to their colleagues in the IT department. Multivariate analysis revealed the technologists perceived interest in change to be a key predictor for perceived change in intra-organizational collaboration. This indicates the important role of the IT department, in relation to the newsroom and the business department, for innovation relating to the production and distribution of news.