The Impact of Gender and Experience on User Confidence in Electronic Mail

INTRODUCTION Groupware systems are changing the way people communicate, interact, learn, and preserve organizational memory. Collaboration technologies are emerging that allow workers separated by distance and time to communicate on an “anytime-anyplace” basis (Briggs et al., 1998; Markus, 1994). From a social and economic perspective, groupware technologies show significant potential. From a management perspective, the diffusion and structuration of the technology can be a daunting challenge of organizational adjustment. While groupware technologies are advancing rapidly in the organizational context, it appears that a considerable number of participants, for one reason or another, lack the skills and/ or confidence in electronic media. This may make it more difficult to adopt and diffuse the technology and limit the medium’s effectiveness. Unless a technology like e-mail is truly pervasive and ubiquitous, organizational productivity may suffer. The e-mail component of groupware is one of the most widely used and fastest-growing applications for computers today. It increases the range, diversity, and frequency of communication (Contractor and Eisenberg, 1990) and may lead to improvements in the effectiveness of organizational intelligence development and decision-making (Huber et al., The Impact of Gender and Experience on User Confid nce in Electronic Mail