Researching Behaviours of E-mail Users, Neila Earned Doctoral Degree

Dean of Faculty of Psychology Dra. Neila Ramdhani, M.Si., M.Ed., said that the academic community of Universitas Gadjah Mada has acknowledged the good impact of e-mailing system on work flow. In its implementation, several factors can boost the use of this technology. “Easy use, easy access, easy to obtain and easy to manage are very important here,” said the Chief of the Information and Technology Development Unit of the Faculty, Thursday (3/12).
Neila said this in an open examination of the doctoral programme of the Faculty at UGM. The lady born in Prabumulih, 19 February 1961, defended her dissertation entitled “Theoretical Model of Behaviour of E-mail Users” with the promoter Prof. Djamaludin Ancok, Ph.D. and co-promoter Sugiyanto, Ph.D.
Neila said that the the easy operation makes it user friendly. The easy access is made possible by the sophistication of Internet technology that helps accelerate e-mails. The nature that is easy to obtain is indicated by the  availability of equipment and technicians when problems occur. Another easy nature lies  in managing  the system which is easy to learn. Therefore, Internet accessibility  improvement -    user friendly nature or bandwidth speed improvement – is necessary. “Competence improvement in socialisation and training need to be conducted to increase the benefit,” Neila explained.  

Neila conducted her research by involving over 300 randomly selected respondents who are lecturers in 18 faculties. As many as 153 respondents have been asked on the spot while 163 others have filled in on-line questionnaires. After a screening procedure, a total of 269    respondents has been analysed. Of this number, 11 respondents have not used e-mailing system for 3 months while 258 respondents have routinely used it on a daily basis. Some 62 respondents are even constantly connected to the Internet to get access to e-mailing.

The research showed that the low role of extraversion nature in deciding the behaviour in using e-mail system is related to the face-to-face communication that is normally practised in Indonesia. With a culture that is more human-oriented, the face-to-face interaction seems to bring with it more appreciation, friendliness and it is more informal than the written communication, especially if between supervisors and subordinates.