Thanks for the quick reply! : Email Chronemics and Instructor Liking

This study explored how chronemic conditions in email exchanges affect student liking of instructors. Participants (N = 123) were exposed to one of four email vignettes that simulated a message exchange between a student and instructor. In each vignette, a student posed a question to their instructor about a class assignment. The researchers manipulated the importance of the assignment discussed (low and high assignment point value) as well as the speed at which the instructor responded (10 hours and 14 days). A factorial ANOVA indicated that only instructor response time significantly influenced student liking of instructor. Implications of these findings are discussed and practical suggestions are offered for instructors

CHRONEMIC ASPECTS OF CHAT, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO TRUST IN A VIRTUAL TEAM

How does user personality impact pauses in online synchronous chat, and how do these pauses correlate with the development of trust in online teams? An analysis of hundreds of short chat sessions which took place between 62 pairs of participants in the DayTrader social dilemma game reveals a link between chronemic (time-related) variables and personality traits. The three chronemic variables that were analyzed, interpost pause, switching pause, and personal rhythm, were shorter in players who rated higher on extraversion, and longer in players who rated higher on agreeableness. The relationship between extraversion and shorter pauses is comparable to similar findings in spoken communication, while the relationship with agreeableness is novel. Furthermore, an analysis of the relationships between the three chronemic variables and the establishment of trust in the virtual teams confirms the hypothesis that longer pauses are associated with decreased trust. Three non mutually exclusive explanations are offered for this association: 1) longer pauses cause the decrease in trust; 2) longer pauses are the result of increased cognitive load associated with deception creation; and, 3) longer pauses are the result of increased efforts related to the suspicion that deception is taking place

Student Evaluations of Instructor Email Response Speed as Chronemic Expectancy Violations

Instructional communication researchers have begun exploring the effects of instructor email response speed on student evaluations of their instructor. To date, researchers have concluded that faster response times result in more favorable evaluations. To extend this line of research, this experiment explores student evaluations of instructor response speed through the lens of expectancy violations theory, arguing that eliciting positive evaluations is not just about responding quickly, but rather, responding more quickly than students expect. Results indicated that positive violations of instructor email response speed are evaluated more favorably than negative chronemic violations in terms of instructor credibility and relational closeness. These findings contribute practical implications for instructors inundated with email exchanges with students and offer theoretical nuance to the study of chronemics in instructor-student email communication

The blurring boundaries between synchronicity and asynchronicity:new communicative situations in work-related Instant Messaging

Instant messaging is one of the most popular communication technologies in virtual teams, enabling interactions to intertwine whole working days, thus creating the sense of copresence for team members who are geographically dispersed. Through close linguistic analyses of naturally occurring data from a virtual team, this article discusses the implications of two novel communicative situations enabled by instant messaging: presence information and the persistence of transcript. The preliminary findings of this study indicate that these new communicative situations require the flouting or rethinking of previously existing interactional norms and that communicative practices employed by the team members are not yet conventionalized/normalized, the expectations and interpretations of interactional rituals and timing vary highly, even within the same virtual team

Reconstructing Emotional Aspects of Computer Mediated Communication Vis-À-Vis Human Relationship

This article attempts to pieces computer mediated communication with an aim to analyse emotional aspects of this communication which seems to be garnering momentum to replace human/face to face communication across all spheres and ramifications of living. It points to technology’s obsession at annihilating time and space while attempting an incorporation of elements and complex algorithms which attempts to transmit human emotions as would be in a face to face context. Adopting theoretical angles and arguments in literature, the piece arrives at a position which presents the perspective that although technology promises a lot as regards advancement in communication using computer-based platforms, it may never capture the essence nor replace the universe of valuable insights and elements which defines human relationships and communication. Keywords:Computer Mediated Communication, Human Relationship, Emotions in CMC, Face to face communication DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/96-04 Publication date:May 31st 202

Non-verbal Communication: Anger and Dissatisfaction in Ghanaian Marriages

Problems and challenges are part of matrimony. This study focuses on how nonverbal cues express anger and dissatisfaction in Ghanaian marriages. Data from 30 married couples were thematically analyzed, resulting in three outcomes. One, married couples use various forms of nonverbal communication such as proxemics, occulesics or eye movements, chronemics, kinesics, and behavioral cues to communicate anger. The married couples also use nonverbal cues such as frowning, mean face, eye contact, fisting of hand, denial of sex, and refusal to eat to express their anger and dissatisfaction. Two, married couples encounter difficulties such as misinterpretation of cues by partners, suspicion, and ineffective communication in their use of nonverbal cues to express their anger. Third, there are essentialdifficulties among couples regarding interpreting nonverbal cuesthat express anger.These findings prove that the need strongly exists to educate couples on how tointerpret nonverbal cues as a vital component of the strategy to improvematrimonial communication

Adapting Nonverbal Coding Theory to Mobile Mediated Communication: An Analysis of Emoji and Other Digital Nonverbals

Nonverbal communication has been an area of communication theory studied for decades. Despite more daily communication occurring over mediated communication, there is a lack of research surrounding digital communication, specifically mobile-mediated communication (MMC). While there has been research conducted regarding computer-mediated communication (CMC), specifically studies examining email communication and instant messaging (IM), the mobile conversation is relatively untouched by current scholarship. This paper will streamline nonverbal coding research to set the groundwork for application and translation of nonverbal coding elements to mobile-mediated communication and the text message conversation. Even more specifically, the elements of kinesics, vocalics, and chronemics will be reviewed and further defined to see if these elements translate to the digital elements of emojis, typed laughter, and excessive capitalization and punctuation

Y U No Ansr? A Chronemics Analysis of Electronic Communications

This paper explores current literature related to chronemics in electronic communication to show that emailing, texting, and social media should be studied in order to understand how one’s self-esteem is affected by these forms of communication to bring about a greater awareness. This research describes a sample study of college students’ reactions to response times using a mixed methods approach, specifically an explanatory sequential model. Through an evaluation of Zimbardo’s (1999) time perspective studies, peer reviewed journal articles, and computer-mediated communication chronemic studies, this paper provides an argument that response times in electronic communications indicate priority and hierarchy between communicators which can, in turn, temporarily affect an individual’s self-esteem

CMC and social information processing in a work context : a qualitative approach

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.The topic of this research is Computer-Mediated Communication, electronic mail (e-mail) communication more precisely. This research has multiple purposes. Firstly this research represents an empirical and qualitative verification of the Social Information Processing Theory (SIPT) in an organizational context. Proposed by Walther at the beginning of the 1990s, the SIPT was a counter strike aimed at research from the 1980s which suggested that because of a lack of non-verbal cues, email, was unsuited to interpersonal communication, leading to anti-social and task-oriented communication. This research, then, contradicts this earlier view of email communication. The second focus, or purpose, of this research was on the non-verbal cues used in email communication to form impressions of email partners as well as on the use of non-verbal cues to send impressions. This central facet of the SIPT has thus far been understudied in academic literature. Thirdly, the current research aimed to shed light on the use of supplementary sources of information in impression formation. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. Six employees of a large Finnish multinational firm were all interviewed twice. The employees represent an international team with members in three different countries, who communicate primarily by email. The interviews were structured around the Social Information Processing Theory so that the different components of the theory were all discussed in the interviews. The transcribed interview data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis, the process which, was structured around the cues used to form impressions. Relevant cases in the data were identified and classified until meaningful categories emerged. The main results of the current research are twofold. Firstly the research verified the robustness of the Social Information Processing Theory to model email communication in an organizational context. The SIPT was developed with social communication in mind, but it is also able to describe the process of impression formation in a work environment. Secondly the results of the current research demonstrate the central role of contextual or inferential non-verbal cues in impression formation. The communicators studied in this research all share the same organizational context, which has a profound impact on the cues used to form impressions. Whereas previous research has concentrated primarily on more concrete cues (such as the use of smileys), the results of the current research are an important step in elaborating the SIPT specifically with regard to contextual non-verbal cues. References Walther, J. (1992) Interpersonal Effects in Computer-Mediated Interaction- A Relational Perspective. Communication Research, 19, 52-90. Walther, J. & Parks, M. (2002). Cues Filtered Out, Cues Filtered in: Computer-Mediated Communication and Relationships. Walther, J. & Tidwell, L. (1995). Nonverbal Cues in Computer-Mediated Communication, and the Effect of Chronemics on Relational Communication. Culnan, M. & Markus, M. (1987). Information Technologies Sproull, L. & Kiesler, S. (1986). Reducing Social Context Cues: Electronic Mail in Organizational Communication. Tyler, J. & Tang, J. (2003). When can I Expect an Email Response? A Study of Rhythms in Email Usage