The leadership development industry has drawn scrutiny for being simultaneously costly and ineffective at developing effective leaders. Executive coaching has been demonstrated as one method of effective leadership development, yet it can be expensive for organizations to employ. Given the availability of new technologies, many organizations have experimented with a shift in the delivery modality from face-to-face coaching to distance coaching without exploring how changing technology affects the coaching relationship, one of the most important factors in predicting successful coaching outcomes. A time-lagged field experiment examined the effects of modality (face-to-face, video-conference, and telephone) and perceived media richness on coaching relationships. Results demonstrated that modality did not have a direct effect on the coachee’s perceptions of relationship quality nor the coach’s sense of being trusted. However, significant indirect effects existed, mediated by perceived media richness. As expected, participants viewed face-to-face meetings to be significantly richer than video- conferencing and telephone. Coachee teleconferencing self-efficacy moderated this relationship, such that those with greater efficacy perceived telephone and video-conferencing to be similar in richness to face-to-face sessions. Greater perceived media richness was then associated with higher quality relationships for the coachee and a greater sense of being trusted for the coach. Although we expected emotional expressivity to moderate the relationship between perceived richness and relational outcomes, we did not find statistical support for this hypothesis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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