Measuring environmental uncertainties in a study of the impact of information technology on organizational communication patterns

摘要

Uncertainty caused by the unpredictability of external environments has been shown to have a number of effects on the structure and communication patterns of organizations. However, uncertainty can also be a consequence of actions taken within the internal environment of a company. Additionally, the adoption of information technology (IT), with broad "reach" and "range", can similarly affect the functioning of an organization. This study attempts to measure and assess the impact of these three variables-environmental uncertainty both external and internal; intensity of lT usage; and organizational communication patterns. Five Korean companies as well as three American companies operating in Korea are used as research sites and significant results are obtained.