How do people choose a medium (in-person vs. email) to approach others with a request?

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Employees continuously need information resources from others to successfully do their jobs. They can approach others through multiple communication channels to make requests for these resources. However, these channels are not equally effective in persuading others to provide what is needed. Therefore, it is valuable for employees as well as their managers to understand what channel to use for this kind of communication. For example, email requests are vastly less persuasive than in-person requests, yet we found that requesters choose email over in person requests for two different reasons. When asking a friend for resources, requesters are largely unaware of the differential persuasiveness of channels hence they choose email due to convenience. When approaching a stranger, email offers a way to avoid the (unfounded) embarrassment and awkwardness of an in-person request hence it is preferred over in-person requests. Consequently, requesters are mostly deprived of the needed resources, which negatively affects individual as well as organizational performance.

Our conclusion is that over-reliance on technology for professional communication can be detrimental. Employees should be made aware of the shortcomings of technology and helped to overcome their unfounded perceptions about the awkwardness of approaching others face to face.Roghanizad, M., & Turetken, O. (2024). Resource-seeking and media choice process: A case of irrational decision making. International Journal of Information Management, 74, 102714. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2023.102714 (external link, opens in new window)