The Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Users’ Interaction Between the Academic Staffs – Scientist/Engineers in Malaysia

Abstract

Recent workplace studies claim that the latest advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and flexible work arrangements have enabled alternative ways of working that can now provide a wider scope of interactivity across geographic distances, a scope that would have once restricted interaction among groups, if not prohibited it altogether. Such claim has challenged the conventional understanding which asserts that proximity among firms provides crucial face-to-face interaction in the inter-organisation collaboration. It is, however, debatable that the acceptance of the alternative workplace depends on the nature of the work, context, and culture of the organisation or nation. Therefore, this research examines the extent to which traditional locational assumptions and the proclaimed transformations performed in a developing country, such as Malaysia. The aim is to investigate the impact of university location – in terms of the characteristics of place and distance between places – to users’ face-to-face, and ICT interactions in the collaborations. This research analysed a structured interview conducted with 32 academic staffs in two universities, and 25 scientists and engineers in 15 research organisations. The findings showed that face-to-face interaction has strong relationship with distance, and the impact of telecommunication technology in replacing face-to-face interaction is rather small. Key words: ICT, face-to-face interactions, communication, location, distance, inter-organisation collaboration