The communication environment within organizations provides multiple opportunities for informational retrieval throughout the day. While previous research has explored media choice from a sender\u27s perspective, little research has explored the choices receiver or targets make in attending to messages and information streams. This paper explores the process that targets use to evaluate messages by introducing a model of target attention allocation. This model builds on theories of media choice, uses and gratifications, and social exchange to identify a rational choice model based on the assessment of the need to reduce uncertainty, the interactivity offered by the media employed, and the social norms guiding media choices. In doing so, it provides a means for measuring satisfaction with a given information stream and, therefore, the likelihood that the target will switch to another information stream
