Participation and consensus in collective action organizations: the influence of interpersonal versus mass-mediated channels

Collective action organizations used to rely on interpersonal channels for intra-organization communication. However, their increasing size and the changes in their bureaucratic nature made the use of mass-mediated channels seem more effective. A survey of members of an environmental action group was undertaken to compare how a certain communication channel influences the individual members' consensual support of the group's goals. Results showed that volunteers, who participated through interpersonal and mass-mediated channels, agreed more with their dominant leaders' goal rankings than did direct mail members, who participated through mass-mediated channels.