Are We Equal Online?: An Investigation of Gendered Language Patterns and Message Engagement on Enterprise Communication Platforms

Abstract

It was previously hypothesized that gender differences -- and thus gender discrimination -- would disappear if communication was no longer in person, and instead was transmitted and received in the same format for all. Yet, even online, researchers have identified gendered language styles in written communication that reveal gender cues and can lead to unequal treatment. In this work, we revisit these past findings and ask whether the same gendered patterns can be found on modern communication platforms, which present a new set of engagement features and mixed synchronous capabilities. We quantitatively analyze 335,000 Slack messages sent by 845 individuals as part of 46 teams, collected over six years of a product design capstone course. We found little evidence of traditionally gendered communication styles (characterized as elaborate, uncertain, and supportive) from the minority-gender participants. We did identify relationships between message author gender, communication style, and message engagement --- women and minority genders were more likely to have their messages engaged with, but only when using certain communication styles --- suggesting complex power dynamics exist on these platforms. We contribute the first study of gendered language styles on Enterprise Communication Platforms, adding to the community's understanding of how new settings and emerging technology relate to team collaborative dynamics, and motivating future tool development to support collaboration in diverse teams.