{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,6]],"date-time":"2026-06-06T15:11:34Z","timestamp":1780758694223,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":86,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,20]],"date-time":"2019-05-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1558310400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Journal of Information Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In the information economy, individuals\u2019 work performance is closely associated with their digital communication strategies. This study combines social network and semantic analysis to develop a method to identify top performers based on email communication. By reviewing existing literature, we identified the indicators that quantify email communication into measurable dimensions. To empirically examine the predictive power of the proposed indicators, we collected 2 million email archive of 578 executives in an international service company. Panel regression was employed to derive interpretable association between email indicators and top performance. The results suggest that top performers tend to assume central network positions and have high responsiveness to emails. In email contents, top performers use more positive and complex language, with low emotionality, but rich in influential words that are probably reused by co-workers. To better explore the predictive power of the email indicators, we employed AdaBoost machine learning models, which achieved 83.56% accuracy in identifying top performers. With cluster analysis, we further find three categories of top performers, \u2018networkers\u2019 with central network positions, \u2018influencers\u2019 with influential ideas and \u2018positivists\u2019 with positive sentiments. The findings suggest that top performers have distinctive email communication patterns, laying the foundation for grounding email communication competence in theory. The proposed email analysis method also provides a tool to evaluate the different types of individual communication styles.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0165551519849519","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,20]],"date-time":"2019-05-20T10:11:20Z","timestamp":1558347080000},"page":"508-527","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Finding top performers through email patterns analysis"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"46","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7271-3224","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qi","family":"Wen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, USA; State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Project Management and Technology Institute, Tsinghua University, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter A","family":"Gloor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5348-9722","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Fronzetti Colladon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Praful","family":"Tickoo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Genpact, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tushar","family":"Joshi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Genpact, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0165551519849519","first-page":"56","volume":"89","author":"Malone TW","year":"2011","journal-title":"Harv Bus Rev"},{"key":"bibr2-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0021943606297902"},{"key":"bibr3-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/amj.2014.0170"},{"key":"bibr4-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1046496416635823"},{"key":"bibr5-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0013773"},{"key":"bibr6-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.2015.0974"},{"key":"bibr7-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0001839212461439"},{"key":"bibr8-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.1120.0806"},{"key":"bibr9-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/ambpp.2006.27169074"},{"key":"bibr10-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.89.6.925"},{"key":"bibr11-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/amj.2014.4002"},{"key":"bibr12-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0165551515587854"},{"key":"bibr13-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2017.02.017"},{"key":"bibr14-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbusres.2017.02.010"},{"key":"bibr15-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/amr.2014.0381"},{"key":"bibr16-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2016.2518"},{"key":"bibr17-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2014.2021"},{"key":"bibr18-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TEM.2010.2090160"},{"key":"bibr19-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.2015.0980"},{"key":"bibr20-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/amr.2013.0274"},{"key":"bibr21-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.obhdp.2017.08.001"},{"key":"bibr22-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"795","DOI":"10.2307\/20159624","volume":"47","author":"Brass DJ","year":"2004","journal-title":"Acad Manag J"},{"key":"bibr23-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"928","DOI":"10.2307\/20159632","volume":"47","author":"Cross R","year":"2004","journal-title":"Acad Manag J"},{"key":"bibr24-0165551519849519","first-page":"159","volume":"31","author":"Makarius E","year":"2017","journal-title":"Acad Manag Exec"},{"key":"bibr25-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2753\/MIS0742-1222280109"},{"key":"bibr26-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.2013.0850"},{"key":"bibr27-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/661238"},{"key":"bibr28-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0028958"},{"key":"bibr29-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0012722"},{"key":"bibr30-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbusres.2016.08.017"},{"key":"bibr31-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2014.11.005"},{"key":"bibr32-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0268-4012(02)00068-3"},{"key":"bibr33-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.1100.0573"},{"key":"bibr34-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2009.08.005"},{"key":"bibr35-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.1040.0028"},{"key":"bibr36-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.1110.0408"},{"key":"bibr37-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.11.6.648.12537"},{"key":"bibr38-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/amr.2004.12736093"},{"key":"bibr39-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.im.2009.06.006"},{"key":"bibr40-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2014.12.044"},{"key":"bibr41-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.49.1.21.12756"},{"key":"bibr42-0165551519849519","unstructured":"Aral S, Van Alstyne M. Network structure & information advantage. In: Proceedings of the academy of management conference, Philadelphia, PA, 2007, https:\/\/pdfs.semanticscholar.org\/0d8e\/7cda7d8a2ff737c0ad72f31dfd4d80d3a09a.pdf"},{"key":"bibr43-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sbspro.2011.10.573"},{"key":"bibr44-0165551519849519","first-page":"13","volume":"26","author":"Webster J","year":"2002","journal-title":"MIS Quat"},{"key":"bibr45-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.obhdp.2011.03.002"},{"key":"bibr46-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/9781787141124"},{"key":"bibr47-0165551519849519","volume-title":"Analyzing social networks","author":"Borgatti SP","year":"2013"},{"key":"bibr48-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0378-8733(78)90021-7"},{"key":"bibr49-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511815478"},{"key":"bibr50-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/25148820"},{"key":"bibr51-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0001839211428131"},{"key":"bibr52-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/JKM-11-2016-0504"},{"key":"bibr53-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10588-006-9006-3"},{"key":"bibr54-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0405728101"},{"key":"bibr55-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327051hci2001&2_4"},{"key":"bibr56-0165551519849519","first-page":"23","volume":"55","author":"Gloor PA","year":"2014","journal-title":"MIT Sloan Manag Rev"},{"key":"bibr57-0165551519849519","first-page":"7","volume":"57","author":"Gloor PA.","year":"2016","journal-title":"MIT Sloan Manag Rev"},{"key":"bibr58-0165551519849519","unstructured":"Br\u00f6nnimann L. Analyse der Verbreitung von Innovationen in Sozialen Netzwerken. Master\u2019s Thesis, University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, Windisch, 2014, http:\/\/www.twitterpolitiker.ch\/data\/Master_Thesis_Lucas_Broennimann.pdf"},{"key":"bibr59-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0306-4573(02)00021-3"},{"key":"bibr60-0165551519849519","first-page":"435","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 31st annual international ACM SIGIR conference on research and development in information retrieval (SIGIR \u201908)","author":"Roelleke T"},{"key":"bibr61-0165551519849519","first-page":"343","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 36th international ACM SIGIR conference on research and development in information retrieval (SIGIR \u201913)","author":"Paik JH"},{"key":"bibr62-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1328854.1328855"},{"key":"bibr63-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socnet.2010.11.003"},{"key":"bibr64-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2393394"},{"key":"bibr65-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2016.02.052"},{"key":"bibr66-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.1030.0054"},{"key":"bibr67-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2393988"},{"key":"bibr68-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejor.2016.11.008"},{"key":"bibr69-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","volume-title":"Social networks and organizations","author":"Kilduff M","DOI":"10.4135\/9781849209915"},{"key":"bibr70-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physa.2017.08.126"},{"key":"bibr71-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.respol.2008.08.010"},{"key":"bibr72-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1214\/aos\/1016218223"},{"key":"bibr73-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.patcog.2015.03.009"},{"key":"bibr74-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.1080.0191"},{"key":"bibr75-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"656","DOI":"10.2307\/256704","volume":"37","author":"Konovsky MA","year":"1994","journal-title":"Acad Manag J"},{"key":"bibr76-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/amr.2002.7566023"},{"key":"bibr77-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1040.0257"},{"key":"bibr78-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/job.656"},{"key":"bibr79-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/amr.2008.31193163"},{"key":"bibr80-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2010.11.018"},{"key":"bibr81-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/(SICI)1097-0266(199606)17:6<441::AID-SMJ819>3.0.CO;2-G"},{"key":"bibr82-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s003579900058"},{"key":"bibr83-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/256404"},{"key":"bibr84-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/ambpp.2015.16979abstract"},{"key":"bibr85-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijproman.2009.02.003"},{"key":"bibr86-0165551519849519","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.autcon.2016.06.002"}],"container-title":["Journal of Information Science"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0165551519849519","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0165551519849519","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0165551519849519","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T23:08:56Z","timestamp":1777504136000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0165551519849519"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,20]]},"references-count":86,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0165551519849519"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0165551519849519","relation":{},"ISSN":["0165-5515","1741-6485"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0165-5515","type":"print"},{"value":"1741-6485","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,20]]}}}