Heavy Users of Electronic Mail

Abstract

A field study was conducted using a questionnaire and interviews concerning how electronic mail (E-mail) is used as a work tool for communication. The questionnaire, distributed electronically within a large organization, showed that employees sending and receiving large numbers of E-mail messages are not the same employees having problems handling E-mail. Managers seem to have problems to a larger extent than members of other workgroups. Interviews were then conducted with 10 employees selected by strata from the questionnaire study. Strata were based on the variables of job category, number of E-mail messages sent and received per day, and E-mail handling problems. The interviews showed that, although employees continually entered the E-mail program, they did not see this action as disruptive of other work activities; instead, they saw it as having a positive effect. E-mail handling problems correlated with the number of messages stored in the inbox (.72). Employees felt a shortage of time for handling E-mail and gave examples of communication problems. Regardless of the number of messages in the inbox and whether employees felt a time shortage, employees had difficulty organizing stored messages within folders and catalogues.

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