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According to the reports, emails are the "most deceptive form of communications" in the workplace. The studies also reveal that people actually feel justified when lying using email.

"There is a growing concern in the workplace over email communications, and it comes down to trust," said Liuba Belkin, co-author of the studies and an assistant professor of management at Lehigh University.

"You're not afforded the luxury of seeing non-verbal and behavioural cues over email. And in an organisational context, that leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation and, as we saw in our study, intentional deception."

The results of the studies are reported in the paper, 'Being Honest
Online: The Finer Points of Lying in Online Ultimatum Bargaining'.
Belkin co-authored the paper along with Terri Kurtzberg of Rutgers University and Charles Naquin of DePaul University.

In one study, the researchers gave 48 full-time MBA students £49 to divide between themselves and another fictional party, who only knew the dollar amount fell somewhere between £2.50 and £55. There was one
pre-condition: the

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other party had to accept whatever offer was made to them.

Using either email or pen-and-paper communications, the MBA students reported the total value of the funds and told the others how much they would receive. Students communicating by email lied about the amount of money to be divided over 92 per cent of the time. Less than 64 per cent using pen and paper-based communications lied about the pot size.

Those using email also said they felt more justified in awarding the other party just £14 out of a total pot of about £31. Students using pen-and-paper were more generous, however; on average, they passed along almost £19 out of a misrepresented pot of about £35.

"Keep in mind that both of these media - email and pen-and-paper - are text only. Neither has greater 'communication bandwidth' than the other," said Naquin. "Yet we still see a dramatic difference."

Following on from this analysis the researchers set up a second, related study of 69 full-time MBA students. The results of that study indicated the more familiar emailers are with each other, the less deceptive their lies would be. But they would still lie, regardless of how well they identified with each other.

"These findings are consistent with our other work that shows that email communication decreases the amount of trust and cooperation we see in professional group-work, and increases the negativity in performance evaluations, all as opposed to pen-and-paper systems,"
said Kurtzberg.

"People seem to feel more justified in acting in self-serving ways when typing as opposed to writing."

"The study of industrial psychology and the evolving use of email are presenting some interesting challenges for organisations across the board," added Belkin.