When I Call you Up and you're not there: Application of Communication Accommodation Theory to Telephone Answering Machine Messages

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1996

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1080/10570319609374552

Abstract

This investigation extends Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) to an everyday situation in which non‐simultaneous, temporally limited, and less information rich communication occurs. Specifically, this study explores whether callers converge to structural (script and message features) and relational (verbal immediacy cues) message aspects found in recorded answering machine messages. After comparing recorded answering machine messages and caller messages, we found that callers exhibited greater convergence to relational than to structural aspects. Both female and male callers converged with levels of immediacy in answering machine messages. Implications for future research in CAT are outlined.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

No

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Western Journal of Communication, v. 60, issue 4, p. 310-336

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