Visual e-mail authentication and identification services: An investigation of the effects on e-mail use

E-mail communication has become an essential part of business and individual communication. However, the increase of phishing, spam and other illegitimate e-mails poses severe threats to legitimate e-mail communications. It is therefore important to understand the impact of newly emerging visual e-mail authentication and identification services on shaping individuals' attitudes toward e-mail use. This study explores the research question in the context of a cost-benefit framework. We find that the attitude toward e-mail use is affected positively by perceived e-mail benefits and negatively by the cognitive effort expended in identifying relevant and authentic e-mails. Cognitive effort increases with both e-mail load and perceived e-mail risk, and decreases with perceived service usefulness whose effect becomes stronger for those with higher perceived e-mail risk. In addition, the relationship between perceived service usefulness and individuals' self-efficacy in identifying authentic and relevant e-mails without technology support follows an inverted u-curve. Implications of the study are discussed.