Information and communications technology, culture, and medical universities: Organizational culture and netiquette among academic staff

Introduction: Netiquette is appropriate behavioral etiquette when communicating through computer networks or virtual space. Identification of a dominant organizational culture and its relationship with a network culture offers applied guidelines to top managers of the univer- sity to expand communications and develop and learn organization through the use of the internet. The aim of this research was to examine the relationship between netiquette and organizational culture among faculty members of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Iran. Materials and Methods: To achieve this aim, the research method in this study was correlational research, which belonged to the category of descriptive survey research. The target population comprised of 594 faculty members of the IUMS, from which a sample of 150 was randomly selected, based on a simple stratified sampling method. For collecting the required data, two researcher-made questionnaires were formulated. Even as the first ques- tionnaire tended to measure the selected sample members’ organizational culture according to Rabbin’s model (1999), the latter was designed in the Health Management and Economic Research Center (HMERC), to evaluate netiquette. The reliability of the questionnaires was computed by Choronbach’s alpha coefficient formula and they happened to be 0.97 and 0.89, respectively. Ultimately, SPSS Version #15 was used for the statistical analysis of the data. Results: The findings revealed that the organizational culture and netiquette were below aver- age level among the sample members, signifying a considerable gap in the mean. In spite of that, there was no significant relationship between netiquette and the organizational culture of the faculty members. Conclusion: Emphasizing the importance of cultural preparation and a network user’s training, this research suggests that the expansion of network culture rules among IUMS and organizational official communications, through the use of internet networks, in order to promote university netiquette and convenience in communication development, on the basis of special etiquette.