Professional or Faux Pas? Effects of Multicommunicating on the Analyst-User Relationship

An important factor that can influence the user-analyst relationship during information systems development is how analysts communicate with users. The present study examines the extent to which analyst multicommunicating behaviors during meetings with users influence perceptions of the analyst and willingness to help the analyst with subsequent tasks. A research model was developed by integrating two streams of research, namely research on user-analyst relationships and multicommunicating. Using a 2×2 factorial experimental design and video vignettes depicting a series of meetings between an analyst and a user, data was collected from 80 participants. The results indicate that when the analyst engaged in multicommunicating, the study participants perceived significantly higher levels of analyst incivility, even when the analyst´s multicommunicating did not interfere with or hamper his/her conversation with the user. In addition, perceived analyst incivility negatively influenced the participants´ willingness to help the analyst in a future task. The paper then discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the study findings.