Self-esteem, interpersonal risk, and preference for e-mail to face-to-face communication

Joinson, Adam N. (2004). Self-esteem, interpersonal risk, and preference for e-mail to face-to-face communication. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 7(4) pp. 472–478.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2004.7.472

Abstract

The media choices made by high and low self-esteem Internet users were studied using webbased methodology (n = 265). Participants were asked to rank four media (face-to-face, e-mail, letter, and telephone) in order of preference across four different communication scenarios designed to pose an interpersonal risk. The level of interpersonal risk posed by two of the scenarios (asking for a pay rise and asking for a date) were also experimentally manipulated by randomly allocating participants to a 25%, 50%, or 75% chance of rejection. Low selfesteem users (LSE) showed a significant preference toward e-mail communication compared to high self-esteem users (HSE). This pattern was reversed for face-to-face preferences. Similarly, a greater chance of rejection in a scenario led to e-mail being preferred to face-to-face communication. The results are discussed in light of both the strategic use of different media and the motivated Internet user

Viewing alternatives

Metrics

Item Actions

Export

You can export this page using these formats Digital Object Identifier - DOI