Why are some e-mails forwarded and others not?

Purpose – This study aims to explain why e‐mails trigger emotional response states in receivers and to explore the influence of e‐mail formats on the receivers' intention to forward e‐mails.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 305 undergraduate and EMBA students in one university in Northern Taiwan. Participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire based on any forwarded e‐mail that they had recently received.Findings – This study reveals that people will have a stronger intention to forward e‐mails that make them feel positive emotions, display richer information, are greater in length, or include audio and visual information.Research limitations/implications – This study shows that e‐mail forwarding function maintains guanxi with others, supporting the social psychology theory that personal emotional states will trigger specific behaviors. Also, this paper extends the explanation of the “information richness” theory concerning the influence of format on receivers' e‐mail forwarding...

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