Description
It is well known that e-mails are causing information overload. Existing research investigated the amount of e-mails but does not consider the format of a single e-mail and its cognitive impact. Therefore, we investigate e-mail conversations as one of the most promising formats, which is composed of the quoted history of appended e-mails, forwarded to a third person. Cognitive load theory is used to scrutinize the contribution of the e-mail conversation format on intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. The resulting hypotheses and our pilot of the experiment investigate the induction of e-mail overload by e-mail conversations. By successfully validating our measurement instruments we gain first indications of construct validity. As a result we present an exploratory factor analysis, a confirmatory factor analysis, and an assessment of the model fit. Subsequently, we reflect on our findings and present the implications for future research.
Recommended Citation
Sobotta, Nikolai, "Measuring the Impact of the E-Mail Conversation Format on E-Mail Overload: A Pilot Test" (2015). AMCIS 2015 Proceedings. 24.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2015/AdoptionofIT/GeneralPresentations/24
Measuring the Impact of the E-Mail Conversation Format on E-Mail Overload: A Pilot Test
It is well known that e-mails are causing information overload. Existing research investigated the amount of e-mails but does not consider the format of a single e-mail and its cognitive impact. Therefore, we investigate e-mail conversations as one of the most promising formats, which is composed of the quoted history of appended e-mails, forwarded to a third person. Cognitive load theory is used to scrutinize the contribution of the e-mail conversation format on intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. The resulting hypotheses and our pilot of the experiment investigate the induction of e-mail overload by e-mail conversations. By successfully validating our measurement instruments we gain first indications of construct validity. As a result we present an exploratory factor analysis, a confirmatory factor analysis, and an assessment of the model fit. Subsequently, we reflect on our findings and present the implications for future research.