Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Review of Managerial Science
Published in: Review of Managerial Science 6/2023

14-10-2022 | Original Paper

The influence of text-based technology-mediated communication on the connection quality of workplace relationships: the mediating role of emotional labor

Authors: Anthony Silard, Mary Beth Watson-Manheim, Nuno Jose Lopes

Published in: Review of Managerial Science | Issue 6/2023

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

Teleworking experienced exponential growth worldwide during the Covid-19 lockdown. It is very likely that once the limitations for travelling and gathering are over, an important share of the work of organizational members will still be done remotely. We offer a new set of considerations for employees that communicate remotely via text-based technology-mediated communication (TMC) by focusing on the emotional labor challenges associated with TMC and how these challenges influence the connection quality of workplace relationships. We also delineate the mediating effects of two outcomes of TMC, decreased co-presence and informational and interactional demands, in this process. We build on previous literature, especially Walther’s (1996) triadic theory of impersonal/interpersonal/hyperpersonal TMC, to support our theoretical assertions. We develop specific propositions and a theoretical model related to the mediating effects of decreased co-presence, informational and interactional demands, and emotional labor on the link between text-based technology-mediated communication (TMC) and the connection quality of workplace relationships.
previous article Can artificial intelligence’s limitations drive innovative work behaviour?
next article Critical HR capabilities in agile organisations a cross-case analysis in swiss SMEs

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Footnotes
1
In this paper, when we refer to TMC, we are alluding solely to text-based mechanisms of technology-mediated communication, such as emailing, texting and posting text in work-related social media (e.g., organization-specific chat boards). We are not referring to richer-media TMC such as videoconferencing.
 
2
While emotional labor is an intrapersonal variable and connection quality is a dyadic or interpersonal variable, for congruity in this paper when we refer to emotional labor we are describing the emotional labor performances of both interaction partners in a dyadic workplace relationship. We recognize that, in actuality, each organizational actor will practice emotional labor uniquely. Yet each actor will also perceive the quality of the connection with the other organizational member distinctly. For the operationalization of the propositions in this paper, future researchers may consider examining both the emotional labor and perceived connection quality of each organizational actor in a dyadic workplace relationship.
 
Literature
Allen TD, Eby LT, Lentz E (2006) Mentorship behaviors and mentorship quality associated with formal mentoring programs: closing the gap between research and practice. J Appl Psychol 91(3):567–578CrossRef
Amabile TM, Schatzel E, Moneta GB, Kramer SJ (2004) Leader behaviors and the work environment for creativity: Perceived leader support. Leadersh Q 15(1):5–32CrossRef
Ashforth BE, Humphrey RH (1993) Emotional labor in service roles: the influence of identity. Acad Manage Rev 18(1):88–115CrossRef
Ashkanasy NM, Humphrey RHR (2011) Current emotion research in organizational behavior. Emot Rev 3(2):214–224CrossRef
Avolio BJ, Walumbwa F, Weber T (2009) Leadership: Current theories, research, and future directions. Ann Rev Psychol 60:421–449CrossRef
Bailenson JN (2021) Nonverbal overload: A theoretical argument for the causes of Zoom fatigue.Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2(1)
Barley SR, Meyerson DE, Grodal S (2011) E-mail as a source and symbol of stress. Organ Sci 22(4):887–906CrossRef
Barsade SG, Gibson DE (2007) Why Does Affect Matter in Organizations? Acad Manage Perspect 21(1):36–59CrossRef
Bejaković P, Mrnjavac Ž (2020) The importance of digital literacy on the labour market. Empl Relations 42(4):921–932CrossRef
Berscheid E (1999) The greening of relationship science. Am Psychol 54(4):260–266CrossRef
Bregman A, Haythornthwaite C (2003) Radicals of presentation: visibility, relation, and co-presence in persistent conversation. New Media & Society 5(1):117–140CrossRef
Byron K (2008) Carrying too heavy a load? The communication and miscommunication of emotion by email. Acad Manage Rev 33(2):309–327CrossRef
Carney DR, Cuddy AJC, Yap AJ (2010) Power posing: brief nonverbal displays affect neuroendocrine levels and risk tolerance. Psychol Sci 21(10):1363–1368CrossRef
Clark MS, Isen AM (1982) Toward understanding the relationship between feeling states and social behavior. In: Hastorf A, Isen AM (eds) Cognitive social psychology. Elsevier, pp 73–108
Cramton CD (2001) The mutual knowledge problem and its consequences for dispersed collaboration. Organ Sci 12(3):346–371CrossRef
Cropanzano R, Weiss HM, Hale J, Reb J (2003) The structure of affect: Reconsidering the relationship between negative and positive affectivity. J Manag 29(6):831–857
Dasborough MT (2006) Cognitive asymmetry in employee emotional reactions to leadership behaviors. Leadersh Q 17(2):163–178CrossRef
Deci EL, Ryan RM (1991) A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality. In Nebraska symposium on motivation (Vol. 38) (pp. 237–288)
Derks D, Fischer AH, Bos AE (2008) The role of emotion in computer-mediated communication: A review. Comput Hum Behav 24(3):766–785CrossRef
Diefendorff JM, Croyle MH, Gosserand RH (2005) The dimensionality and antecedents of emotional labor strategies. J Vocat Behav 66:339–357CrossRef
Diefendorff JM, Erickson RJ, Grandey AA, Dahling JJ (2011) Emotional Display Rules as Work Unit Norms: A Multilevel Analysis of Emotional Labor Among Nurses. J Occup Health Psychol 16(2):170–186CrossRef
Dirks K, Ferrin D (2002) Trust in leadership: meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice. J Appl Psychol 87(4):611CrossRef
Dutton J, Heaphy E (2003) The power of high-quality connections. In: Cameron KS, Dutton JE (eds) Positive organizational scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline, 3rd edn. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, pp 263–278
Ekman P (1973) Cross-cultural studies of facial expression. In: Ekman P (ed) Darwin and facial expression: A century of research in review. Malor Books, pp 169–222
Faraj S, Jarvenpaa SL, Majchrzak A (2011) Knowledge collaboration in online communities. Organ Sci 22(5):1224–1239CrossRef
Ferris GR, Liden RC, Munyon TP, Summers JK, Basik KJ, Buckley MR (2009) Relationships at work: Toward a multidimensional conceptualization of dyadic work relationships. J Manag 35(6):1379–1403
Festinger L, Schachter S, Back K (1950) Social pressures in informal groups: A study of human factors in housing. Harper
Fisher CD, Minbashian A, Beckmann N, Wood RE (2013) Task appraisals, emotions, and performance goal orientation. J Appl Psychol 98(2):364–373CrossRef
Fitness J (2000) Anger in the workplace: An emotion script approach to anger episodes between workers and their superiors, co-workers and subordinates. J Organizational Behav 21:147–162CrossRef
Fredrickson BL, Branigan C (2005) Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition & Emotion 19(3):313–332CrossRef
Friedman RA, Currall SC (2003) Conflict escalation: Dispute exacerbating elements of e-mail communication. Hum Relat 56(11):1325–1347CrossRef
Gibson DE, Tulgan B (2002) Managing anger in the workplace. HRD Press
Graen G, Uhl-Bien M (1995) Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective. Leadersh Q 6(2):219–247CrossRef
Grandey A (2000) Emotional regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. J Occup Health Psychol 5(1):95–110CrossRef
Grandey A, Rupp D, Brice W (2015) Emotional labor threatens decent work: A proposal to eradicate emotional display rules. J Organizational Behav 36:770–785CrossRef
Gross J (1998) The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Rev Gen Psychol 2(3):271–299CrossRef
Gross JJ (2015a) Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychol Inq 26(1):1–26CrossRef
Gross JJ (2015b) Emotion Regulation: Current Status and Future Prospects. Psychol Inq 26(1):1–26CrossRef
Gross JJ (2015c) The extended process model of emotion regulation: Elaborations, applications, and future directions. Psychol Inq 26(1):130–137CrossRef
Harris LC (2002) The Emotional Labour of Barristers: An Exploration of Emotional Labour By Status Professionals. J Manage Stud 39(4):553–584CrossRef
Heaphy ED, Dutton JE (2008) Positive social interactions and the human body at work: Linking organizations and physiology. Acad Manage Rev 33(1):137–162CrossRef
Hochschild AR (1983) The managed heart: The commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley: University of California …. University of California Press
Hochschild AR (1979) Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. Am J Sociol 85(3):551–575CrossRef
Huang HT, Lin CP (2019) Assessing ethical efficacy, workplace incivility, and turnover intention: a moderated-mediation model. RMS 13(1):33–56CrossRef
Humphrey RH (2012) How do leaders use emotional labor ? J Organizational Behav 33(February):740–744CrossRef
Humphrey RH, Ashforth BE, Diefendorff JM (2015) The bright side of emotional labor. J Organizational Behav 36(6):749–769CrossRef
Kiesler S, Sproull LEE (1992) Group decision making and communication. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 52:96–123CrossRef
Koneya M, Barbour A (1976) Louder Than Words: Nonverbal Communication, Interpersonal Communication series. Merrill
Korczynski M (2000) The political economy of trust.Journal of Management Studies, 37(1)
Krasnova H, Wenninger H, Widjaja T, Buxmann P (2013) Envy on Facebook: A hidden threat to users’ life satisfaction? 11th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik, 27th February – 1st March 2013, Leipzig, Germany
Krauss R, Fussell S (1990) Mutual knowledge and communicative effectiveness. In: Galeghe J, Kraut R, Egido C (eds) Intellectual Teamwork: Social and Technological Foundations of Cooperative Work. Lawrence Erlbaum, pp 111–146
Kütt GH, Tanprasert T, Rodolitz J, Moyza B, So S, Kenderova G, Papoutsaki A (2020) Effects of shared gaze on audio-versus text-based remote collaborations. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4, 1–25
Landry EM (2000) Scrolling around the new organization: The potential for conflict in the on-line environment. Negot J 16(2):133–142CrossRef
Lazarus RS (1991) Emotion and adaptation. Oxford University Press
Lebeuf C, Storey MA, Zagalsky A (2017) How software developers mitigate collaboration friction with chatbots. ArXiv Preprint ArXiv:1702.07011
Lin CP, Chiu CK, Liu NT (2019) Developing virtual team performance: an integrated perspective of social exchange and social cognitive theories. RMS 13(4):671–688CrossRef
Lindebaum D, Jordan PJ, Morris L (2016) Symmetrical and asymmetrical outcomes of leader anger expression: A qualitative study of army personnel. Hum Relat 69(2):277–300CrossRef
Lindebaum D, Jordan PJ (2012) When it can be good to feel bad, and bad to feel good: Exploring asymmetries in workplace emotional outcomes. Hum Relat 67(9):1037–1050CrossRef
Mazmanian M, Orlikowski WJ, Yates J (2013) The autonomy paradox: The implications of mobile email devices for knowledge professionals. Organ Sci 24(5):1337–1357CrossRef
McAfee A, Brynjolfsson E (2012) Big data: The management revolution.Harvard Business Review, October
McAllister DJ (1995) Affect- and cognition-based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations. Acad Manag J 38(1):24–59CrossRef
McGrath J, Hollingshead A (1994) Groups interacting with technology. Sage Publications
McPherson M, Smith-Lovin L, Brashears ME (2006) Social isolation in America: Changes in core discussion networks over two decades. Am Sociol Rev 71(3):353–375CrossRef
Milgram S (1965) Some conditions of obedience and disobedience to authority. Hum Relat 18:57–76CrossRef
Milgram S (1974) Obedience to authority. Harper & Row
Mullen B, Copper C (1994) The relation between group cohesiveness and performance: An integration.Psychological Bulletin, 115(2)
Myers D (2010) Social Psychology, 10th edn. McGraw Hill
Parrott WG (2001) Implications of Dysfunctional Emotions for Understanding How Emotions Function. Rev Gen Psychol 5(3):180–186CrossRef
Parrott WG (2002) The functional utility of negative emotions. In: Barrett LF, Salovey P (eds) The wisdom in feeling: Psychological processes in eomtional intelligence. Guilford Press, pp 341–359
Rafaeli A, Sutton RI (1989) The expression of emotion in organizational life. In Research in Organizational Behavior (Vol. 11, pp. 1–42)
Reis H, Gable S, Roscoe J, Ryan R (2000) Daily well-being: The role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 26(4):419–435CrossRef
Rothman NB, Melwani S (2017) Feeling mixed, ambivalent, and in flux: The social functions of emotional complexity for leaders. Acad Manage Rev 42(2):259–282CrossRef
Russell JA (2003) Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. Psychol Rev 110(1):145–172CrossRef
Schulze J, Krumm S (2017) The “virtual team player”: A review and initial model of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics for virtual collaboration. Organizational Psychol Rev 7(1):66–95CrossRef
Seltzer LJ, Prososki AR, Ziegler TE, Pollak SD (2012) Instant messages vs. speech: Hormones and why we still need to hear each other. Evol Hum Behav 33(1):42–45CrossRef
Seltzer LJ, Ziegler TE, Pollak SD (2010) Social vocalizations can release oxytocin in humans. Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society, 277(1694), 2661–2666
Shah N, Irani Z, Sharif AM (2017) Big data in an HR context: Exploring organizational change readiness, employee attitudes and behaviors. J Bus Res 70:366–378CrossRef
Sher PJH, Zhuang WL, Wang MC, Peng CJ, Lee CH (2019) Moderating effect of perceived organizational support on the relationship between leader–member exchange and expatriate voice in multinational banks. Empl Relations 41(5):898–913CrossRef
Silard A, Anderson J (2018) The influence of disparate emotional labor performances by diverse group members on government legitimacy. Public Adm Q 42(2):159–182
Sluss DM, Ashforth BE (2007) Relational identity and identification: Defining ourselves through work relationships. Acad Manage Rev 32(1):9–32CrossRef
Spears R, Lea M (1992) Social influence and the influence of the “social” in computer-mediated communication. Harvester Wheatsheaf
Stephens J, Heaphy E, Dutton J (2011) High quality connections. In: Cameron K, Spreitzer G (eds) Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship. Oxford University Press
Strack F, Martin L, Stepper S (1988) Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. J Personal Soc Psychol 54(5):768–777CrossRef
Sutton R, Rafaeli A (1988) Untangling the relationship between displayed emotions and organizational sales: The case of convenience stores. Acad Manag J 31(3):461–487CrossRef
Sy T, Côté S, Saavedra R (2005) The contagious leader: impact of the leader’s mood on the mood of group members, group affective tone, and group processes. J Appl Psychol 90(2):295–305CrossRef
Van Kleef GA, Homan AC, Cheshin A (2012) Emotional influence at work: Take it EASI. Organizational Psychol Rev 2(4):311–339CrossRef
Van Kleef G, Homan AC, Beersma B, van Knippenberg D (2010) On angry leaders and agreeable followers: How leaders’ emotions and followers’ personalities shape motivation and team performance. Psychol Sci 21(12):1827–1834CrossRef
von Wolff M, Hobert S, Schumann M (2019) How may I help you?–State of the art and open research questions for chatbots at the digital workplace. Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Walther J (1996) Computer-mediated communication: Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Res 23(1):3–43CrossRef
Wang B, Liu Y, Qian J, Parker SK (2021) Achieving Effective Remote Working During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Work Design Perspective. Appl Psychol 70(1):16–59CrossRef
Zhan Y, Wang M, Shi J (2015) Interpersonal process of emotional labor: The role of negative and positive customer treatment.Personnel Psychology,1–33
Metadata
Title
The influence of text-based technology-mediated communication on the connection quality of workplace relationships: the mediating role of emotional labor
Authors
Anthony Silard
Mary Beth Watson-Manheim
Nuno Jose Lopes
Publication date
14-10-2022
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Review of Managerial Science / Issue 6/2023
Print ISSN: 1863-6683
Electronic ISSN: 1863-6691
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-022-00586-w

Other articles of this Issue 6/2023

Review of Managerial Science 6/2023 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Can I show my skills? Affective responses to artificial intelligence in the recruitment process

Review Paper

Can artificial intelligence’s limitations drive innovative work behaviour?

Editorial

Editorial note from the Editors-in-Chief

Original Paper

Towards a process-oriented understanding of HR analytics: implementation and application

Editorial

The evolution of HRM practices: big data, data analytics, and new forms of work

Original Paper

Work from Home Success: Agile work characteristics and the Mediating Effect of supportive HRM