From the Globe and Mail (Report on Business):
Have you ever lied in an e-mail?
Honestly, you’re not alone. A U.S. study released Thursday shows e-mail is much more conducive to telling falsehoods than using old-fashioned pen and paper. Moreover, people feel more justified in doing it.
The findings challenge the notion that e-mails are just the same as other written communication, the study’s authors said.
The results “illustrate that traditional pen-and-paper communication is indeed different from e-mail in the way it influences people’s behaviours, even though both [are] text only,” said Charles Naquin of DePaul University, Terri Kurtzberg of Rutgers University, and Liuba Belkin of Lehigh University.
Previous research has found e-mails are associated with unseemly behaviour such as lower levels of trust, negative attitudes and “flaming” – sending rude messages. This study suggests a greater propensity to lie can be added to that list.