Electronic alternatives to the business meeting: Managers' choices.

An experiment was designed to test five hypotheses concerning managers' preparedness to use an electronic alternative to meeting face to face for a business discussion. Fifty civil servants were given experience using telecommunication for a small group discussion. They then considered nine hypothetical cases and for each case indicated whether they would use the telecommunication system they had experienced or travel to meet face to face. They were significantly more likely to choose in favour of telecommunication: the longer the journey involved in meeting face to face; and the shorter the expected duration of the discussion. The following factors had no significant effect on the decisions: whether or not the telecommunication system had a visual channel; whether access to the system was relatively convenient or inconvenient; and whether the subjects had previous experience of telecommunication systems. The practical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]