University of Sussex
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Describing the strategies used for dealing with email interruptions according to different situational parameters

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 17:44 authored by Emma RussellEmma Russell, Lynne Millward Purvis, Adrian Banks
Interruptions research is heavily reliant on a paradigm involving ‘enforced interruption’. Email use however constitutes a special form of ‘controlled interruption’. As there is no precedent available in the existing literature to describe what strategies people use to deal with ‘controlled interruption’, an exploratory first study was undertaken using an open-ended interview design. Twenty-eight email users working within UK organisations were asked about how they dealt with email interruptions, when faced with different situational or task parameters. Qualitative content analysis of interview transcripts revealed a wide range of strategies used for dealing with email in general, and for specific situations in particular, with idiosyncratic differences in application. These findings are consistent with the predictions of Action Regulation Theory [Hacker, W. (1985). Activity: A fruitful concept in industrial psychology. In M. Frese, J. Sabini (Eds.), Goal directed behaviour: The concept of action in psychology. London, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (Chapter 18); The German Journal of Psychology 18(2) (1994) 91–120] – that people select strategies (action programs) for achieving a task according to the specific parameters of the task or goal. However, the findings go further in highlighting the salience of individual differences in underwriting one’s choice of strategy (or action program). Further research is required to understand which strategies are linked to effective performance, and how individual differences influence strategic decision making in multi-goal work environments.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Computers in Human Behavior

ISSN

0747-5632

Publisher

Elsevier

Issue

4

Volume

23

Page range

1820-1837

Department affiliated with

  • Business and Management Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-05-10

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC