Delivering bad news can be an unpleasant task, therefore people often either postpone it or mitigate its effect through positive distortion. However, delivering (and receiving) timely and accurate negative information can be critical for performance improvement and organizational learning. This paper investigates the possibility that computer-mediated communication can increase honesty and accuracy in delivering negative information that has personal consequences for the recipient. In a laboratory experiment, 117 participants delivered positive or negative personally-consequential information to a "student" (confederate) using one of three types of media: computer-mediated communication, telephone, or face-to-face conversation. Participants distorted negative information less, i.e., were more accurate and honest, when they used computer-mediated communication than face-to-face or telephone communication. There was no difference in distortion of positive information across media conditions. Participants also reported higher levels of satisfaction and comfort in the computer-mediated communication situation. The perceived quality of the relationship mediated the impact of medium on satisfaction, but not on distortion.
As technology for information access improves, people have more opportunities to share information. A theory of information sharing is advanced and we report the results of three experiments on attitudes about sharing technical work and expertise in organizations. Based on research on sensitive topics difficult to study in the field, we derived vignette-based measures of attitudes. Subjects read a description of an employee's encounter with a previously unhelpful coworker who subsequently requested help—in the form of a computer program or computer advice. The influence of prosocial attitudes and organizational norms is inferred from subjects' support of sharing despite the previous unhelpful behavior of the coworker. Experiments 1 and 3 demonstrated that greater self interest reduces support of sharing, but that a belief in organizational ownership of work encourages and mediates attitudes favoring sharing. Work experience and business schooling contribute to these attitudes. The theory asserts that information as expertise belongs to a special category of information that is part of people's identity and is self-expressive. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that subjects felt computer expertise belonged more to its possessor than the computer program did but would share it more than the program. Hence, attitudes about information sharing depend on the form of the information. Sharing tangible information work may depend on prosocial attitudes and norms of organizational ownership; sharing expertise may depend on people's own self-expressive needs.