Could This Have Been a Voice Note? An Experiment Comparing Voice Notes and Emails

Sarah-Louise Cunningham and William Fleming

Abstract

Asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) is vital for collaboration among distributed and virtual teams, with email the most common mode. Yet paradoxically email is a key source of work stress. Alternative modes of CMC ought to be evaluated as to whether they are more effective. This study contributes to this need by evaluating voice notes as a ‘richer’ CMC mode. In an online experiment (N=793) we test the causal effect of changing CMC mode from email to voice note for hypothetical manager communications. Measuring interpretation bias (IB), we find using voice notes conditionally reduces negative interpretations. Benefits are conditional on the capacity to reduce ambiguity in messages, providing heterogeneous results. When CMC mode is unable to reduce ambiguity, negative IB actually increases for certain groups (men and those with higher stress). However, for women and those with lower stress, voice notes have only positive or neutral effects.