Electronic mail use by CEOs: The effects of symbolic perceptions and normative influences.

Abstract

This research had three objectives: (a) determine what, if any, symbolic value e-mail had for chief executive officers (CEOs), (b) establish a link between e-mail symbolism and organizational normative influences, including cultural norms, institutional expectations, and role expectations, and (c) demonstrate a relationship between the symbolic value of e-mail and CEOs' use of e-mail. Senior executives in five organizations were interviewed about their views and use of e-mail. Next, 500 organizations were surveyed, of which 85 CEOs and their assistants completed questionnaires (17%). The average CEO respondent was 54 years old, earned $900,000 annually, oversaw 9,000 employees, and sent and received 20 e-mail messages daily. High e-mail users perceived of e-mail as a symbol of progressiveness, where e-mail was seen as essential to their organizational survival, as a symbol of modernity, and as promoting "open door" policies between higher and lower levels of management. Low e-mail users perceived of e-mail as a loss of management influence, in which e-mail was viewed as minimizing personal relationships and decreasing managers' control. Low e-mail users also perceived of e-mail as lowered status. After controlling for critical mass, computer experience, age, and organizational tenure, e-mail usage was predicted by e-mail symbolizing progressiveness and by not symbolizing a loss of status. CEOs who perceived that e-mail symbolized progressiveness or who perceived that e-mail did not symbolize a loss of management influence had more constituents and other CEOs in their industry who used e-mail. CEOs who reported hierarchical cultures or conservative cultures perceived of e-mail as a symbol of a loss of management influence, whereas CEOs who reported egalitarian cultures or innovative cultures perceived of e-mail as a symbol of progressiveness. By using e-mail to symbolize management accessibility, CEOs may adapt e-mail as a replacement for more traditional forms of communicating values such as "open-door" policies. Further, CEOs may use e-mail to gain internal and external legitimacy through its image of progressiveness.