• Corpus ID: 202756955

The Influence of Emoticons on the Perception of Job-Related Emails : An Analysis Based on the Four-Ear Model

@inproceedings{Ernst2018TheIO,
  title={The Influence of Emoticons on the Perception of Job-Related Emails : An Analysis Based on the Four-Ear Model},
  author={Claus-Peter Hermann Ernst and Martin Huschens and Sebastian Herrmann and Laura Hoppe},
  year={2018}
}

• C. H. Ernst, Martin Huschens, +1 author Laura Hoppe
• Published 2018
• Business

Non-verbal communication cues and their surrogates in computermediated communication, emoticons, can influence how a message is understood. Based on the four-ear model, we examine in detail at which levels of communication emoticons affect message perception. Using a factorial survey with a treatment control group design (N = 104), our findings suggest that emoticons do not influence the understanding of a message at the content level. However, we show that they significantly influence the metamessage. These findings hold important theoretical and practical implications: First, our results help to explain the mixed results of previous studies on the effects of emoticon usage on message interpretation. Second, we show that emoticons are a means to convey contextual information over and above the raw content of the message, especially at the self-revelation and relationship level. However, this does not come without a price: Emoticons dilute the effects of job-related emails at the appeal level.