Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jul 2006

Reconceptualizing E-Mail Overload

Gail Fann Thomas ; Cynthia L. King Naval Postgraduate School ; Brian Baroni ; Linda Cook ; Marian Keitelman ; Steve Miller ; Adelia Wardle United States Department of the Army

Abstract

This study explores social processes associated with e-mail overload, drawing on Sproull and Kiesler's first and second-order effects of communication technologies and Boden's theory of lamination. In a three-part study, the authors examined e-mail interactions from a government organization by logging e-mails, submitting an e-mail string to close textual analysis, and analyzing focus group data about e-mail overload. The results reveal three characteristics that contribute to e-mail overload— unstable requests, pressures to respond, and the delegation of tasks and shifting interactants—suggesting that e-mail talk, as social interaction, may both create and affect overload.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2006-07-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651906287253
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Topics
discourse analysis qualitative research digital rhetoric affect and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Machili et al. (2019)
    ‘The Snowball of Emails We Deal With’: CCing in Multinational Companies
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  2. Ruppel et al. (2013)
    Using Communication Choices as a Boundary-Management Strategy: How Choices of C…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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