Why are some e‐mails forwarded and others not?

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explain why e‐mails trigger emotional response states in receivers and to explore the influence of e‐mail formats on the receivers' intention to forward e‐mails.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 305 undergraduate and EMBA students in one university in Northern Taiwan. Participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire based on any forwarded e‐mail that they had recently received.

Findings

This study reveals that people will have a stronger intention to forward e‐mails that make them feel positive emotions, display richer information, are greater in length, or include audio and visual information.

Research limitations/implications

This study shows that e‐mail forwarding function maintains guanxi with others, supporting the social psychology theory that personal emotional states will trigger specific behaviors. Also, this paper extends the explanation of the “information richness” theory concerning the influence of format on receivers' e‐mail forwarding intentions.

Practical implications

This study can assist marketing managers in developing e‐commerce by exploiting the special features of e‐mails identified in the study.

Originality/value

This study provides a behavioral model of the type of e‐mails most likely to be forwarded. Enterprises can use this model in developing better guanxi with their customers.

Citation

Lin, T.M.Y., Wu, H., Liao, C. and Liu, T. (2006), "Why are some e‐mails forwarded and others not?", Internet Research, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 81-93. https://doi.org/10.1108/10662240610642550