Müller, Ralf: Determinants for external communications of IT project managers; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 21 (2003), No. 5, pp. 345-354.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(02)00053-4
Müller analysis empirically the determinants of external communication of IT project managers in a business-to-business market. The study is based on the concepts of Media Richness Theory (which postulates that the richer the medium the more effective the communication) and Transaction Economics.
Müller finds no evidence for an influence of the organisation’s structure. The risk in the project has a negative impact on communication frequency and communication contents in general. Specifically he finds that higher risk increases communications frequency and preference for face-to-face meetings whilst decreasing the preference for written reports.
Relational norms have a positive influence on communication frequency, media, and contents.