Open AccessA Sign of the Times: An Analysis of Organizational Members’ Email Signatures
Author(s) -
Rains Stephen A.,
Young Anna M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of computer‐mediated communication
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.15
H-Index - 119
ISSN - 1083-6101
DOI - 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00307.x
Subject(s) - communication source , phone , content analysis , function (biology) , sign (mathematics) , world wide web , internet privacy , signature (topology) , computer science , psychology , sociology , mathematics , linguistics , telecommunications , social science , philosophy , geometry , evolutionary biology , biology , mathematical analysis
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 .