"Out of the office": Conveying Politeness through Auto-Reply Email Messages

Abstract

Technology-based communication is characterized by rapid exchanges that for the most part are expected to occur regardless of the geographical location of the interlocutors. Those expectations hold true for email, an older form of technology still commonly used for communication in professional and academic contexts. Auto-reply messages are a useful vehicle for communicating one’s unavailability via email and assuring interlocutors of an eventual response that is as prompt as possible, given the circumstances. Drawing on Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory, this study frames auto-reply messages as a tool for managing potentially face-threatening situations and analyzes three components – greetings, closings, and signatures – as well as the strategies that senders use to minimize the threat. Finally, comparisons between auto-reply emails and ‘away’ messages in instant messaging inform a broader discussion of trends in technology-based communication.