Effects of e‐mail addiction and interruptions on employees
| Pages | 82-94 |
| Date | 17 March 2012 |
| Published date | 17 March 2012 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13287261211221146 |
| Author | Laura Marulanda‐Carter,Thomas W. Jackson |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Effects of e-mail addiction and
interruptions on employees
Laura Marulanda-Carter and Thomas W. Jackson
Department of Information Science, Loughborough University,
Loughborough, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of e-mail interruptions on tasks and to
explore the concept of e-mail addiction within the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a large car rental company in the UK.
The first collection method involved observing the effects of simulated e-mail interruptions on seven
employees by measuring the interrupt handling time, the interrupt recovery time, and the additional
time required to complete the task given the number of interruptions. The second part of the study
involved a questionnaire sent to 100 employees to capture addictive characteristics in employees’
e-mail communication behaviour.
Findings – E-mail interruptions have a negative time impact upon employees and show that both
interrupt handling and recovery time exist. A typical task takes one third longer than undertaking a
task with no e-mail interruptions. The questionnaire data show clinical characteristics classify
12 per cent of e-mail addicts, and behavioural characteristics classify 15 per cent of e-mail addicts in
the workplace.
Research limitations/implications – Observation was constrained by the timeframes and
availability of the participating organisation. Measuring an employee receiving e-mail interruptions
over a greater time period might achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the impact.
Originality/value – The small study is the first to determine the impact of e-mail interruptions on
work tasks by observing employees, and to present a method to determine e-mail addiction. By
understanding these factors, organisations can manage workflow strategies to improve employee
efficiency and effectiveness.
Keywords United Kingdom,Employees behaviour, Electronic mail,Addiction, e-mail addiction,
e-mail handing,e-mail recovery time, Managing e-mail communications, Task interruption
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Computer mediated communication systems can often create as many problems for an
organisation as they solve. The volume and pace of information can become
overwhelming, especially since messages are not necessarily sequential and multiple
topic threadsare common, resulting in amongstother factors, informationoverload (Hiltz
and Turoff, 1985; Kerr and Hiltz, 1982). As defined by Bawden (2001): “Information
overload occurswhen information receivedbecomes a hindrance rather thana help when
the informationis potentially useful”.It is tempting to assume that the major contributing
factor in the workplace is “too much information” (Bawden etal., 1999), and some believe
that too much information is likely to be better than not enough (Tjaden, 2007). In an
increasinglyconnected global economy,it is true that we depend on information,in varied
media, to stay currentand make decisions. However, the growing pressures to consume
more and more information and to work faster and better than ever before has
repercussions.What is interesting is that information overloadis often, at least partially,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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JSIT
14,1
82
Journal of Systems and Information
Technology
Vol. 14 No. 1, 2012
pp. 82-94
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/13287261211221146
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