Skip to main content
Book cover

CYTED-RITOS International Workshop on Groupware

CRIWG 2017: Collaboration and Technology pp 164–179Cite as

Worth the Wait?: The Effect of Responsiveness on Interpersonal Attraction Among Known Acquaintances

Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNISA,volume 10391)

Abstract

As users adopt new communication technologies, they also develop new norms and expectations about responsiveness: the time it takes an interaction partner to respond to a message. Prior work suggests violation of responsiveness expectations can lead to negative evaluations, but this has not been studied within the modern communication ecosystem, where ubiquitous mobile devices and connectivity enable constant contact with friends and colleagues. We present results from a lab-based experiment examining how violation of such expectations can affect interpersonal attraction. In studying pairs of known acquaintances, we find that low-responsive partners are rated lower in social attraction than high-responsive partners. We also provide an exploratory analysis of chat logs from the experiment which indicates that responsiveness behavior is part of an interactive process where parties involved negotiate for each other’s attention over time.

Keywords

  • Responsiveness
  • Interpersonal communication
  • Messaging

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-63874-4_13
  • Chapter length: 16 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-319-63874-4
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 1.

References

  1. Avrahami, D., Fussell, S.R., Hudson, S.E.: Im waiting: timing and responsiveness in semi-synchronous communication. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 285–294. ACM (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bailey, S.K.T., Schroeder, B.L., Whitmer, D.E., Sims, V.K.: Perceptions of mobile instant messaging apps are comparable to texting for young adults in the United States. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 1235–1239 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Battestini, A., Setlur, V., Sohn, T.: A large scale study of text-messaging use. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, pp. 229–238 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Birnholtz, J., Dixon, G., Hancock, J.: Distance, ambiguity and appropriation: structures affording impression management in a collocated organization. Comput. Hum. Behav. 28(3), 1028–1035 (2012)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  5. Burgoon, J.K.: Interpersonal expectations, expectancy violations, and emotional communication. J. Lang. Soc. Psychol. 12(1–2), 30–48 (1993)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  6. Burgoon, J.K.: Expectancy violations theory. In: Littlejohn, S.W., Foss, K.A. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Communication Theory. SAGE Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Church, K., de Oliveira, R.: What’s up with whatsapp? In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, pp. 352–361. ACM (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Clark, H.H.: Using Language. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1996)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  9. Cramton, C.D.: Attribution in distributed work groups. In: Distributed Work, pp. 191–212 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Cramton, C.D.: The mutual knowledge problem and its consequences for dispersed collaboration. Organ. Sci. 12(3), 346–371 (2001)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  11. Derks, D., Bos, A.E.R., Grumbkow, J.V.: Emoticons and social interaction on the Internet: the importance of social context. Comput. Hum. Behav. 23(1), 842–849 (2007)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  12. Dimitrov, D.M., Rumrill Jr., P.D.: Pretest-posttest designs and measurement of change. Work 20(2), 159–165 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Dingler, T., Pielot, M.: I’ll be there for you: quantifying attentiveness towards mobile messaging. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, pp. 1–5. ACM (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Gottman, J.M.: The Marriage Clinic. A Scientifically-Based Marital Therapy. W.W. Norton & Company, New York (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hancock, J., Birnholtz, J., Bazarova, N., Guillory, J., Perlin, J., Amos, B.: Butler lies: awareness, deception and design. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 517–526 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Hancock, J.T., Landrigan, C., Silver, C.: Expressing emotion in text-based communication. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 929–932 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hayashi, M.: Turn Allocation and Turn Sharing. Sidnell/The Handbook of Conversation Analysis. Wiley, Chichester (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kalman, Y.M., Rafaeli, S.: Online pauses and silence: chronemic expectancy violations in written computer-mediated communication. Commun. Res. 38(1), 54–69 (2010)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  19. Kalman, Y.M., Scissors, L.E., Gill, A.J., Gergle, D.: Online chronemics convey social information. Comput. Hum. Behav. 29(3), 1260–1269 (2013)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  20. Lea, M., Spears, R.: Paralanguage and social perception in computer-mediated communication. J. Organ. Comput. Electron. Commer. 2(3–4), 321–341 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Lee, J.Y., Hong, N., Kim, S., Oh, J., Lee, J.: Smiley face: why we use emoticon stickers in mobile messaging. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, pp. 760–766. ACM (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Lenhart, A.: Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015. Pew Research Center, Washington (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Liebman, N., Gergle, D.: It’s (not) simply a matter of time: the relationship between CMC cues and interpersonal affinity. In: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, pp. 570–581. ACM (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  24. McCroskey, J.C., McCain, T.A.: The measurement of interpersonal attraction. Speech Monogr. 41(3), 261–266 (1974)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  25. Pejovic, V., Musolesi, M.: Interruptme: designing intelligent prompting mechanisms for pervasive applications. In: Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, pp. 897–908. ACM (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Pettegrew, L.S., Day, C.: Smart phones and mediated relationships: the changing face of relational communication. Rev. Commun. 15(2), 122–139 (2015)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  27. Pielot, M., de Oliveira, R., Oliver, N., Kwak, H.: Didn’t you see my message?: Predicting attentiveness to mobile instant messages. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 3319–3328. ACM (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Schulze, F., Groh, G.: Conversational context helps improve mobile notification management. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, pp. 518–528. ACM (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Scissors, L.E., Gill, A.J., Geraghty, K., Gergle, D.: In CMC we trust: the role of similarity. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 527–536. ACM (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Smith, A.: Americans and Text Messaging. Pew Research Center, Washington (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Tang, A., Pahud, M., Inkpen, K., Benko, H., Tang, J.C., Buxton, B.: Three’s company: understanding communication channels in three-way distributed collaboration. In: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 271–280. ACM (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Toma, C.L.: Perceptions of trustworthiness online: the role of visual and textual information. In: Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 13–22. ACM (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Tyler, J.R., Tang, J.C.: When can I expect an email response? A study of rhythms in email usage. In: Proceedings of ECSCW, pp. 239–258 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Vignovic, J.A., Thompson, L.F.: Computer-mediated cross-cultural collaboration: attributing communication errors to the person versus the situation. J. Appl. Psychol. 95(2), 265–276 (2010)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  35. Walther, J.B.: Social Information Processing Theory (CMC). Wiley, Hoboken (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Walther, J.B., Bunz, U.: The rules of virtual groups: trust, liking, and performance in computer-mediated communication. J. Commun. 55(4), 828–846 (2005)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  37. Wohn, D.Y., Birnholtz, J.P.: From ambient to adaptation: interpersonal attention management among young adults. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, pp. 26–35 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation award IIS–217143. The authors would like to acknowledge undergraduate research assistants Ada Jing and Sarah Shi for their assistance with this project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA

    Matthew Heston & Jeremy Birnholtz

Authors
  1. Matthew Heston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeremy Birnholtz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew Heston .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Carl Gutwin

  2. Computer Science, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Sergio F. Ochoa

  3. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Julita Vassileva

  4. Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Tomoo Inoue

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this paper

Cite this paper

Heston, M., Birnholtz, J. (2017). Worth the Wait?: The Effect of Responsiveness on Interpersonal Attraction Among Known Acquaintances. In: Gutwin, C., Ochoa, S., Vassileva, J., Inoue, T. (eds) Collaboration and Technology. CRIWG 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10391. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63874-4_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63874-4_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63873-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63874-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)