User:M.elvira/sandbox

Channel Expansion Theory is a theory of media perceptions that incorporates experiential factors to explain and predict user perceptions of the new communication media. . The theory suggests that in order to understand users varying perceptions of the same medium, we need to consider users prior knowledge-building experiences relating to use of that medium. Carson and Zmud, who developed the theory in 1999, identified the following four experiences as important in shaping individuals perception of media richness: experience with the channel, experience with the message topic, experience with the organizational context, and experience with communication partner.

Theory
Channel expansion theory builds from a variety of theoretical perspectives that address perceptions of media channels, one of which, media naturalness theory suggests that most people have the perception that media that suppress face-to-face communication elements (e.g., the ability to use tone of voice) pose obstacles for the effective communication of knowledge. According to media naturalness theory, for example, students learning about school subjects online will perform more poorly in tests covering those subjects than students learning about the same subjects face-to-face. Carlson and Zmud in turn predicted that users of unnatural media will adapt to those media in a compensatory way, and is thus developed a theory of channel expansion. Channel expansion theory suggests that perceptions of communication medium are likely to vary across users and explains the variation by incorporating one particularly important factor that has not been considered before - media-use experience, which suggests that richness perceptions are contingent upon one’s relevant experiences. Experience with channel, topic, partner, and social influence are all significant predictors of richness perceptions.

Criticism
Channel expansion theory has been criticized for being originally applied only to a single medium - email - and not having tested whether it operates similarly for more traditional media (like telephone) or advanced technologies. Another shortcoming of the theory noted in literature is that Carlson and Zmud did not examine whether different forms of knowledge obtained through relevant experiences they identified may be impacting different richness dimensions.ref> Finally, channel expansion theory overlooks the constraints that channels' inherent technological features may pose on the ability and degree to which media richness can "expand": even if knowledge-building experiences will enhance media perceived richness, it does not guarantee that the media can be objectively used as richer because of its capability constraints (like lack of video/audio, sensory etc.).