Internet Communication (internet + communication)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The Impact of Interorganizational Internet Communication on Purchasing Performance: A Study of Chinese Manufacturing Firms

JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2006
Shaohan Cai
SUMMARY This study investigated the effect of interorganizational Internet communication on purchasing performance. On the basis of a review of the relevant literature, three key dimensions of Internet communication behaviors were identified: frequency, diversity and formality. A model was developed to depict the antecedents of interorganizational Internet communication and the impact of such communication on purchasing performance. Responses from 284 Chinese manufacturing firms were used to test the study's hypotheses. Results revealed that the frequency, diversity and formality of Internet communication played an important role in determining the level of purchasing performance. Additionally, formality was critical to managing information flows over the Internet and preventing potential Internet information security risks. Further, results indicated that two factors, perceived Internet security risks and norms of Internet information sharing, significantly influenced Internet communication behaviors. [source]


Psychological Predictors of Internet Social Communication

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 4 2002
Sarah A. Birnie
This study investigated the relationship of traditional social behavior to social communication via the Internet in a completely wired campus where every professor uses computers in classroom teaching, each residence is wired to the Internet, and every student is issued a laptop computer. It has been suggested that shy and socially isolated individuals communicate more on the Internet because it provides some protection from social anxiety. However, little research has empirically tested this assumption. In line with social network theory, we proposed, instead, that online social communication would complement or supplement the uses of face-to-face social contact resulting in a positive association between the two forms of social behaviors. We assessed the frequency and intimacy of traditional social behaviors, sociability, and shyness in 115 undergraduates (52 male, 63 female). These variables were then used to predict the frequency and intimacy of Internet social communication. Sociability and the frequency of traditional social behaviors were positively associated with the frequency of Internet social communication. The intimacy of traditional social behaviors was positively associated with the intimacy of Internet social communication. Overall, the findings supported the implications of social network theory in that online social communication appeared to complement or be an extension of traditional social behavior rather than being a compensatory medium for shy and socially anxious individuals. With relation to uses and gratifications theory, however, shyness was associated with increased intimate socializing over the Internet, indicating that traditional and Internet communication are not functionally equivalent. [source]


The Impact of Interorganizational Internet Communication on Purchasing Performance: A Study of Chinese Manufacturing Firms

JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2006
Shaohan Cai
SUMMARY This study investigated the effect of interorganizational Internet communication on purchasing performance. On the basis of a review of the relevant literature, three key dimensions of Internet communication behaviors were identified: frequency, diversity and formality. A model was developed to depict the antecedents of interorganizational Internet communication and the impact of such communication on purchasing performance. Responses from 284 Chinese manufacturing firms were used to test the study's hypotheses. Results revealed that the frequency, diversity and formality of Internet communication played an important role in determining the level of purchasing performance. Additionally, formality was critical to managing information flows over the Internet and preventing potential Internet information security risks. Further, results indicated that two factors, perceived Internet security risks and norms of Internet information sharing, significantly influenced Internet communication behaviors. [source]


Updating the Foreign Language Agenda

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2001
Richard D. Lambert
At the founding of the National Foreign Language Center in 1987, several major structural problems facing the field of foreign language (FL) instruction were identified in an editorial in The Modern Language Journal. These broad architectural issues are part of a national agenda for change, both here and abroad, and have been the focus of the NFLC's activities since its establishment. The agenda issues identified in the article are: evaluating language competency; articulating instruction across educational levels and the different contexts in which FLs are taught; increasing the range of languages taught and studied; achieving higher levels of language skills; promoting language competency and use among adults; expanding research and maximizing its impact on FL teaching and learning; and assessing and diffusing new technologies in instructional practice, with particular attention to Internet communication, machine translation, and distance education. The article briefly indicates the nature of these challenges and notes the progress that has been made. [source]


Vernacular Discourse and the Epistemic Dimension of Public Opinion

COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 4 2007
Gerard A. Hauser
Habermas argues that the epistemic dimension of a democracy resides in public opinion. This paper argues that a deliberative model of public opinion needs to take into account exchanges among ordinary citizens that underwrite public opinion and are a major source of the political public sphere's unruliness. Second, it argues that when we examine how ordinary citizens make arguments about public problems that intersect their lives, there is evidence that their norms of reasoning, standards of evidence, and modes of argumentation challenge the presuppositions and rationality of authority. Finally, it argues that although the power of media moguls is not to be discounted, the clock is ticking. Internet communication has opened new avenues for information and participation that can elude corporate power's capacity to control the game. [source]