Online Pauses and Silence: Chronemic Expectancy Violations in Written Computer-Mediated Communication

Abstract

This study examines e-mail response latency as an expectancy violation and explores its impact. Managers evaluate job candidates who varied in their response latency to an e-mail (1 day, 2 weeks, and silence for more than a month) and in their reward valence. As predicted by expectancy violations theory, candidate reward valence moderates the effect of response latency on variables such as applicant evaluation, credibility, and attractiveness. A norms-based definition of online silence is presented, and the influential and complex role of response latency and of online silence as nonverbal chronemic cues in written CMC is elaborated.