“Who´s reading my e-mail?”: a study of professionals´ e-mail usage and privacy perceptions in the workplace

Author

Chociey, Patricia A.

Author_Institution

Program in Corp. & Org. Commun., Fairleigh Dickinson Univ., Madison, NJ, USA

Volume

40

Issue

1

fYear

1997

fDate

3/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

34

Lastpage

40

Abstract

E-mail privacy in the workplace has emerged as one of the most complex ethical and legal issues confronting corporate communication in the electronic age. The paper discusses the array of legal and ethical concerns of e-mail privacy in the workplace. Building on the existing body of knowledge on the topic, the results of a research study are presented which explore the similarities and differences in e-mail usage and privacy perceptions among management level and administrative level employees. The survey, which polled 337 working professionals, confirmed the popular belief that companies are not effectively communicating their e-mail monitoring policies to their employees. Finally, recommendations are made to corporate communicators on how best to forge an e-mail communications policy that can reduce the risk of disputes, incidents, and lawsuits regarding e-mail privacy issues

Keywords

business communication; data privacy; electronic mail; legislation; management; monitoring; personnel; professional aspects; professional communication; administrative level employee; corporate communication; disputes; e-mail monitoring policies; ethical concerns; incidents; lawsuits; legal concerns; management level employees; professional e-mail privacy perceptions; professional e-mail usage; working professionals; workplace; Business communication; Computer networks; Electronic mail; Employment; Knowledge management; Law; Legal factors; Monitoring; Privacy; Voice mail;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Professional Communication, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0361-1434

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/47.557517

Filename

557517