Effect of message content on communication processes in intercultural and same-culture instant messaging conversations

In this paper we explore how and why communication problems such as lack of understanding, low involvement, and negative emotions emerged during the computer-mediated conversations of same-culture and cross-culture pairs. We used retrospective analysis, in which pairs of cross-culture and same-culture American and Chinese participants collaborated on a crime-solving task via Instant Messaging (IM), and later reviewed their IM conversations to report their thoughts and feelings on a minute-by-minute basis. We found differences in the types of messages people produced based on the cultural combination of the pairs. We also found that the content of their partner's messages influenced participants' involvement and negative emotions during the conversation. Our results provide insights into the conversational processes of computer-mediated intercultural teams, and have implications for the design of intercultural collaboration tools.

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