This paper proposes a relatively quick method, called incidental information exchange (IIE), for capturing the level of social exchanges which take place within a workgroup. The measure captures the incidental knowledge that co-workers have about each other’s daily life. It is argued that this mutual knowledge sharing is a necessary step in building work relationships. A pilot study was conducted to assess the application of this measure to a workgroup that has had desktop videoconferencing installed in its offices to connect them with another workgroup located in another city. The administration of the measure was then presented to test its validity and reliability.
['Suling Zhang', 'Marilyn Tremaine']
Incidental Information Exchange: A Measure for Assessing the Affect of Mediated Communication on Work Relationships.