The influence of social distance and power in email politeness in an academic context

This study examined the influence of social and power distance on students’ preferences of openings and closings and requestive strategies used when sending an email in an academic context. Students were more conventionally indirect with a person of higher power and greater social distance as well as when writing to their peers. However, email directness increased in emails to a faculty member with whom they maintain a closer social distance despite their status-unequal relationship. Familiarity with a higher-up may give students the authority to relinquish the sociopragmatic norms they, otherwise, would use in social-distant and power- unequal communication.