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Distinguishing phishing emails from legitimate emails continues to be a difficult task for most individuals. This study aims to investigate the psycholinguistic factors associated with deception in phishing email text and their effect on end-user ability to discriminate phishing emails from legitimate emails.

Email messages and end-user decisions collected from a laboratory phishing study were validated and analyzed using natural language processing methods (Linguistic Inquiry Word Count) and penalized regression models (LASSO and Elastic Net) to determine the linguistic dimensions that attackers may use in phishing emails to deceive end-users and measure the impact of such choices on end-user susceptibility to phishing.

We found that most participants, who played the role of a phisher in the study, chose to deceive their end-user targets by pretending to be a familiar individual and presenting time pressure or deadlines. Results show that use of words conveying certainty (e.g. always, never) and work-related features in the phishing messages predicted higher end-user vulnerability. On the contrary, use of words that convey achievement (e.g. earn, win) or reward (cash, money) in the phishing messages predicted lower end-user vulnerability because such features are usually observed in scam-like messages.

Insights from this research show that analyzing emails for psycholinguistic features associated with computer-mediated deception could be used to fine-tune and improve spam and phishing detection technologies. This research also informs the kinds of phishing attacks that must be prioritized in antiphishing training programs.

Applying natural language processing and statistical modeling methods to analyze results from a laboratory phishing experiment to understand deception from both attacker and end-user is novel. Furthermore, results from this work advance our understanding of the linguistic factors associated with deception in phishing email text and its impact on end-user susceptibility.

Spam emails classification using data mining and machine learning approaches has enticed the researchers' attention duo to its obvious positive impact in protecting internet users. Several features can be used for creating data mining and machine learning based spam classification models. Yet, spammers know that the longer they will use the same set of features for tricking email users the more probably the anti-spam parties might develop tools for combating this kind of annoying email messages. Spammers, so, adapt by continuously reforming the group of features utilized for composing spam emails. For that reason, even though traditional classification methods possess sound classification results, they were ineffective for lifelong classification of spam emails duo to the fact that they might be prone to the so-called “Concept Drift”. In the current study, an enhanced model is proposed for ensuring lifelong spam classification model. For the evaluation purposes, the overall performance of the suggested model is contrasted against various other stream mining classification techniques. The results proved the success of the suggested model as a lifelong spam emails classification method.

In an effort to evaluate if and how emojis might boost customer engagement in email marketing, the current research aims to analyzes emojis' effects and investigates how certain features, such as the type of emoji or the way of emojis' presentation (repetition and position), moderate their effectiveness.

This research comprises four experimental studies. The first two analyze whether the presence and the type of emoji (facial vs non-facial) influence customer engagement. Then, two more studies analyze the influence of the presence and type of emoji, as well as repetitions (repetition vs no repetitions) and positions (left vs right). The data collection is through email marketing campaigns, with two types of brands. The analysis is a fractional factorial design in one- and two-way interactions to identify the influence of presentation features.

Emojis influence customer engagement and can trigger interactive behaviors and increase customer engagement, even in a channel that generally is less prone to interaction. The emojis increase the probability of opening the email, the number of times email gets opened and clicks to access additional content.

The varied results suggest the need for more research to confirm the findings regarding presentation features. This research offers novel implications for interactive marketing and the theory of visual rhetoric because the research establishes how visual stimuli such as emojis can persuade and capture customer attention and increase customer engagement.

Practitioners can optimize email marketing by using emojis strategically to attract audience interest, provoke interactions, build relationships and generate word of mouth, leading to better consumer experiences, loyalty and brand profitability.

Most studies use semantic analysis to analyze emojis; the current study instead tests whether emojis can increase customer engagement in a less-interactive channel and then also considers the moderating role of several emoji-relevant variables. In addition, the authors apply the theory of visual rhetoric to explicate the original findings, which are gathered from a unique data set involving real marketing campaigns.

The increasing number of online courses in higher education has provided students with convenience and flexibility. However, some adverse effects also come with online learning, including negatively affecting student beliefs in themselves and their perceptions of the instructor. Both are important factors for academic success. Grounded in media richness theory, this study aims to examine the impact of medium choices by investigating instructor messages on student beliefs and perceptions in an online course.

This study employs a survey methodology using validated items to assess university student perceptions following faculty interactions (video versus customized email).

The authors find that videos and personalized emails, using mass distribution Excel features, help increase student beliefs, including social belongingness and self-efficacy, and improve students' perceptions of the instructor and learning environment.

This study contributes to the literature by establishing that the richness of media of faculty messages can impact student beliefs, which in turn, may help with student success and retention. The activities used in this study are low-effort for the instructor and may have lasting effects on the students. In addition, this study fills a gap in the literature by examining multiple forms of the richness of media and their impact on multiple aspects of students' beliefs and perceptions of the instructor.

The current digital work environment promoting a “constant-on” culture is a hotbed for cyber incivility. Thus, there is a pressing need to understand its mechanisms. This study aims to shed light on the triggers, sources and impact of rude behaviours in cyberspace. The authors also present the boundary conditions that exacerbate or alleviate the effects of such negative experiences.

Through a systematic literature review based on predefined search protocols, the authors synthesised the current knowledge on cyber incivility and identified 21 peer-reviewed research articles.

The findings reveal the different sources of cyber incivility, its personal, relational and organisational antecedents and consequences, and its personal and situational boundary conditions that curb or enhance the negative impact.

The authors unravel the main future research avenues based on the review findings by systemising knowledge on cyber incivility. Managerial efforts in the form of interventions and mitigation are also discussed to help combat this grieving issue in the workplace.

This paper presents the first systematic review of the cyber incivility literature and identifies new avenues for future research. Scholars can expand upon the findings of this study to fill gaps and move the incivility in cyberspace forward. It also offers practical insights on mitigating the advancement of such behaviours in organisations.

This article examines if there is evidence of racial or gender bias in email reference services in American public and academic libraries.

Using a two-by-two study design and an unobtrusive data collection, the authors conducted two studies in which the authors sent 1,960 email requests to 505 academic and public libraries. Requests in both studies differed in the perceived identity of the user as indicated by their name, and the counterbalanced method was utilized to control for intervening variables. Based on content analysis of the responses, the authors examined the statistical significance of the differences by race, gender and race by gender.

Overall, the authors found equitable service to users regardless of their race and gender; at times, however, there was evidence of favorable service to the White female in academic and public libraries and to the Black male in academic libraries.

There is little research into potential bias in email reference services in both academic and public libraries in the United States of America. Yet, following the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2020, there has been an increased focus on racial equality in library services and the American Library Association (ALA) Code of Ethics was modified accordingly. The authors' study makes significant contributions to the increasing body of research on racial and gender equality in online library services.

Existing research on how professionals manage after-hours connectivity to work has been dominated by studies on the strategies/practices individuals develop. In these studies, mobile technology is perceived as a tool or an enabler that supports otherwise human-centric connectivity decisions. This view sees technology as separate or external to the organisation, missing out on its nuanced role in shaping connectivity decisions. Our study aims to bring technology back into the sociomaterially imbricated context of connectivity and to unpack its parameters.

Drawing on data collected from documents and semi-structured interviews, we adopt the framework of “sociomaterial imbrications” (Leonardi, 2011) to understand the social and material parameters that influence connectivity management practices at two different academic institutions in Saudi Arabia.

The study identifies a set of social and material parameters (organisational, individual, technological and situational) that imbricate to shape, collectively and not individually, professionals’ connectivity management practices. Connectivity decisions to change practice (such as decisions of where, when or why to connect) or technology (how to connect) are not as distinct as they appear but originate from, and are founded on, imbricated sociomaterial parameters. Our study further suggests that connectivity decisions are shaped by individuals’ perceptions of sociomaterial imbrications, but decisions are not solely idiosyncratic. The context within which connectivity decisions are taken influences the type of decisions made.

Connectivity management emerged from sociomaterial imbrications within a context constitutive of four interacting parameters: organisational, technological, situational and individual. Decisions around the “how” and the “what” of connectivity – i.e. the practice of connectivity and its underpinning technology – originate from how people perceive sociomaterial imbrications as enabling or constraining within a context. Individual perceptions account for changes in practice and in technology, but the context they find themselves in is also important. For instance, we show that professionals may perceive a certain technology as affording, but eventually they may use another technology for communications due to social norms.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the personal information management (PIM) behaviours of social science faculty in Africa. The study examined the experiences and encounters of selected social scientists in Africa in organising and finding and re-finding of the information they previously created or stored. More specifically, the study sought to examine how faculty keep and refind information, the files and folders in which they store the information. Also, the study examined the nature and characteristics of faculty information spaces with particular respect to electronic documents including emails and paper documents.

Sample survey research design and a mixed methods approach consisting of qualitative and quantitative were used. Data was collected using a discursive technique, an interview schedule and a questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using factorial analysis of mixed data design, guided by a combination of category and codes identification using NVivo and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 17. Principal component analysis (PCA) of factor analysis was executed to identify key components.

Eleven issues, namely, time, infrastructure, importance of the information, folder/file management, document characteristics and organisational context played significant roles in the PIM behaviours of the respondents. Others were importance of the information, document overload, memory, workload and computer literacy. PCA extracted four major components, namely, document overload, time, computer literacy and importance of the information.

An expansion in the number of faculty involved in this study would probably yield a more reliable outcome. Extending the study to cover Africa would also yield a more applicable result.

The key PIM issues identified in this study, namely, document overload, time, computer literacy and importance of the information should constitute the focus of continuous information literacy education aimed at improving PIM social scientists’ faculty in Africa.

Improved PIM of social science faculty will result to improved research productivity and good health.

PIM of social scientists has not been examined in the literature, and yet it is crucial for further understanding their learning and information behaviours, and improving their productivity. The design and administration of a questionnaire constructed based on codes extracted from qualitative and discursive sessions to the same respondents from whom the qualitative data was collected makes the findings very strong. A further deployment of factorial analysis of mixed data design to handle qualitative data makes the contribution of the study very significant.

This study aims to investigate how phishers apply persuasion principles and construct deceptive URLs in mobile instant messaging (MIM) phishing.

In total, 67 examples of real-world MIM phishing attacks were collected from various online sources. Each example was coded using established guidelines from the literature to identify the persuasion principles, and the URL construction techniques employed.

The principles of social proof, liking and authority were the most widely used in MIM phishing, followed by scarcity and reciprocity. Most phishing examples use three persuasion principles, often a combination of authority, liking and social proof. In contrast to email phishing but similar to vishing, the social proof principle was the most commonly used in MIM phishing. Phishers implement the social proof principle in different ways, most commonly by claiming that other users have already acted (e.g. crafting messages that indicate the sender has already benefited from the scam). In contrast to email, retail and fintech companies are the most commonly targeted in MIM phishing. Furthermore, phishers created deceptive URLs using multiple URL obfuscation techniques, often using spoofed domains, to make the URL complex by adding random characters and using homoglyphs.

The insights from this study provide a theoretical foundation for future research on the psychological aspects of phishing in MIM apps. The study provides recommendations that software developers should consider when developing automated anti-phishing solutions for MIM apps and proposes a set of MIM phishing awareness training tips.