Welcome to the (Email) Machine: A Study of Chronemics and Source Cues in Managerial Communication

David Westerman Dakota State University ; Justin Walden Dakota State University

Abstract

This study assesses the potential use of artificial intelligence-programmed managers in the workplace through two experiments that manipulated source cues and time cues. Data were collected before the Novel Coronavirus pandemic and then 3 years after the pandemic’s outbreak when many businesses had returned to normal operations and ChatGPT had been released. Results held across the two experiments. Neither time nor source automation cues had an impact on the affective impressions participants formed of the simulated email exchange. Attention check data further suggests time cues may no longer be a relevant predictor of impression formation in workplace communication.

Journal
Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published
2025-08-07
DOI
10.1177/23294906251352798
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
OA PDF Hybrid
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (43) · 1 in this index

  1. Abdullahi A. (2024 April 26). 9 best automation software to start using today. eWeek. https://www.eweek.com/a…
  2. Ahmad N. Haque S. Ibahrine M. (2023). The news ecosystem in the age of AI: Evidence from the UAE. Journal of …
  3. Allen N. J. Meyer J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective continuance and normative commit…
  4. Bergner A. S. Hildebrand C. Häubl G. (2023). Machine talk: How verbal embodiment in conversational AI shapes …
  5. Brooks C. (2023 November 8). With little employer oversight ChatGPT usage rates rise among American workers. …
Show all 43 →
  1. Burgoon J. K. Hale J. L. (1987). Validation and measurement of the fundamental themes of relational communica…
  2. Burgoon J. K. Wang R. X. Chen X. Ge T. S. Dorn B. (2022). How the Brunswikian Lens model illustrates the rela…
  3. 10.5465/amd.2018.0210
  4. Cerullo M. (2023 February 21). Vanderbilt apologizes for ChatGPT-generated letter on Michigan State Shooting.…
  5. Chamorro-Premuzic T. (2016 September 9). Why a robot could be the best boss you’ve ever had. The Guardian. ht…
  6. Cox A. L. Bird J. Brumby D. P. Cecchinato M. E. Gould S. J. J. (2020). Prioritizing unread e-mails: People se…
  7. Dasgupta S. A. Suar D. Singh S. (2013). Impact of managerial communication styles on employees’ attitudes and…
  8. DesRochers M. (2024 January 19). Top trends in employee engagement for internal communications. PR Daily. htt…
  9. Eisenberger R. Cummings J. Armeli S. Lynch P. (1997). Perceived organizational support discretionary treatmen…
  10. Erben J. Schneider F. M. Maier M. (2019). In the ear of the beholder: Self-other agreement in leadership comm…
  11. Forja-Pena T. García-Orosa B. López-García X. (2024). A shift amid the transition: Towards smarter more resil…
  12. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  13. Hancock J. T. Naaman M. Levy K. (2020 January). AI-mediated communication: Definition research agenda and eth…
  14. Houkes I. Janssen P. P. M. de Jonge J. Bakker A. B. (2003). Specific determinants of intrinsic work motivatio…
  15. Iogansen X. Malik J. K. Lee Y. Circella G. (2024). Change in work arrangement during the COVID-19 pandemic: A…
  16. Kalman Y. M. Rafaeli S. (2011). Online pauses and silence: Chronemic expectancy violations in written compute…
  17. Kalman Y. M. Scissors L. E. Gill A. J. Gergle D. (2013). Online chronemics convey social information. Compute…
  18. Kruse K. (2018 November 28). In 2023 your boss will be a robot (and you will love her). Forbes.com. https://w…
  19. Levine T. R. Asada K. J. Carpenter C. (2009). Sample sizes and effect sizes are negatively correlated in meta…
  20. Lew Z. Walther J. B. (2022). Social scripts and expectancy violations: Evaluating communication with human or…
  21. Li A. Liao C. Shao P. Huang J. (2022). Angry but not deviant: Employees’ prior-day deviant behavior toward th…
  22. Littell W. N. Peterson B. L. (2024). AI-powered chatbots to simulate executive interactions for students perf…
  23. 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.01.014
  24. Matsunaga M. (2021). Uncertainty management transformational leadership and job performance in an AI-powered …
  25. McEwan B. Carpenter C. J. Westerman D. (2018). On replication in communication science. Communication Studies…
  26. Men L. R. Zhou A. Sunny Tsai W. H. (2022). Harnessing the power of chatbot social conversation for organizati…
  27. Mignonac K. Herrbach O. (2004). Linking work events affective states and attitudes: An empirical study of man…
  28. Pennington N. Holmstrom A. J. Hall J. A. (2022). The toll of technology while working from home during COVID-…
  29. Raina R. Roebuck D. B. (2014). Exploring cultural influence on managerial communication in relationship to jo…
  30. Roumeliotis K. I. Tselikas N. D. (2023). ChatGPT and Open-AI models: A preliminary review. Future Internet 15…
  31. Scott B. A. Judge T. A. (2006). Insomnia emotions and job satisfaction: A multilevel study. Journal of Manage…
  32. Sundar S. S. (2020 January). Rise of machine agency: A framework for studying the psychology of Human–AI Inte…
  33. Tran V. (2020). Positive Affect Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). In Gellman M. D. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of behavio…
  34. Walther J. B. Tidewell L. C. (1995). Nonverbal cues in computer-mediated communication and the effect of chro…
  35. Watson D. Clark L. A. Tellegen A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negati…
  36. Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion of the structure, causes and consequenc…
    Research in Organizational Behavior
  37. Westerman C. Y. K. Westerman D. K. (2013). What’s fair?: Public and private delivery of project feedback. Int…
  38. Age of invisible machines: A guide to orchestrating AI agents and making organizations mo…