Saving Face: Reactions to Cultural Norm Violations in Business Request Emails

Purpose

This research examines reactions to relationship building statements (termed facework; e.g., I hope all is well) and message structure (placement of reasoning either before or after the request itself) in business emails presented to U.S. and Chinese employees.

Design/methodology/approach

Two studies manipulated the use of facework and message structure in samples of Chinese and American employees and measured reactions to the email. Study 1 sampled Chinese (n = 57) and U.S. (n = 56) employees within the same multinational firm. Study 2 employed multi-industry samples of Chinese (n = 99) and U.S. (n = 105) employees. Both studies also examined within-culture differences in self-construal as predictors of reactions to the messages.

Findings

Chinese employees reported greater desire to do business with the sender of an email that included facework and placed reasoning before the request, whereas U.S. employees were more irritated with this type of email (Study 1). However, when facework and message structure were manipulated independently (Study 2), Chinese employees preferred the messages with facework or reasoning before request only when the two strategies were not combined. Within-culture differences in independent and interdependent self-construal interacted with email condition in complex ways.

Implications

Results have implications for employees who use email to communicate cross-culturally and also point to within-culture differences in email preferences.

Originality/value

Despite the prevalent use of email for cross-cultural business communication, lack of understanding of cultural nuances may result in misunderstandings and breakdowns in communication. Results have implications for training employees who communicate cross-culturally.