An Investigation of the Computer-mediated Communication of Emotions

Abstract

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is one of the most widely utilized communication techniques in the business world. However, little is known about the effectiveness of CMC incommunicating affective information (i.e., emotions). A primary objective of this paper is to investigatewhether CMC can transfer affective information and, if so, the extent to which CMC transfers suchinformation. This paper proposes a conceptual model and investigates the impact of emotional messagecue, emotion words, linguistic markers, and paralinguistic cues. The research design involved 225 studentswho participated in a 2 x 3 x 3 laboratory experiment. The results indicate that affective information canbe transferred through CMC. Message receivers were able to detect the sender’s emotion by (1)associating the message content with positive or negative emotions, (2) using emotion cues such asemotion words, linguistic markers, and paralinguistic cues, and (3) through the combination of thesetechniques. The results further indicate that message receivers indicated a higher degree of senders’emotions when the number of emotion cues in the message increased. The paper concludes withimplications for practitioners and directions for future research.