TY - JOUR
T1 - A sign of the times
T2 - An analysis of organizational members' email signatures
AU - Rains, Stephen A.
AU - Young, Anna M.
PY - 2006/7
Y1 - 2006/7
N2 - Drawing from genre theory in organizational communication (Yates & Orlikowski, 1992), this study examines the content and function of email signatures used by organizational members. Email signatures are appended at the end of email messages and contain information about the sender such as his or her title, postal address, and phone number. One hundred and ninety-three email signatures were collected and analyzed in this study. A content analysis revealed demographic and occupational differences in signature content and suggests the potential impression management function of signatures. Based on the results from the content analysis, the evolution of the memo genre in email messages and implications of new communication technologies for contemporary organizational life are discussed.
AB - Drawing from genre theory in organizational communication (Yates & Orlikowski, 1992), this study examines the content and function of email signatures used by organizational members. Email signatures are appended at the end of email messages and contain information about the sender such as his or her title, postal address, and phone number. One hundred and ninety-three email signatures were collected and analyzed in this study. A content analysis revealed demographic and occupational differences in signature content and suggests the potential impression management function of signatures. Based on the results from the content analysis, the evolution of the memo genre in email messages and implications of new communication technologies for contemporary organizational life are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00307.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00307.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33750020615
SN - 1083-6101
VL - 11
SP - 1046
EP - 1061
JO - Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
JF - Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
IS - 4
ER -