Genre analysis of English business e-mail correspondence in internal communication between Thais and Germans in profit and non-profit organizations

Abstract

This is an intercultural genre analysis of English business e-mail correspondence. The intercultural aspect covers both national cultures, i.e. Thai and German, and corporate i.e. profit and non-profit organizations. The framework proposed in this study is used to identify the move structures within the organizational contexts where English is used among non-native speakers in intercultural communication. A sample of 327 authentic English business e-mail messages written by Thais and Germans within profit and non-profit organizations is used in this study. The findings show that these e-mail messages generally comprise seven moves, namely Move 1 Opening Salutation, Move 2 Establishing Correspondence Chain, Move 3 Introducing Purposes, Move 4 Attaching Documents, Move 5 Soliciting Response, Move 6 Ending Positively, and Move 7 Closing Salutation. Thais and Germans followed the same sequence of moves, but at different frequency of occurrence. Most of the moves could be found in the e-mail messages written by Thais and in the messages exchanged in non-profit organizations whereas only some moves existed in the messages written by Germans and in the messages exchanged in profit organizations. Fisher’s exact test indicates the significant relationships between the occurrence of the move and the nationalities of the e-mail composers in Move 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 while there were the significant relationships between the corporate cultures and the occurrence of the move only in Move 4 and Move and Move 6. However, when considering the interaction of the national and corporate cultures it was found that corporate culture has an influence on Thais, more than on Germans. In conclusion, both national and corporate cultures play an important role in intercultural business e-mail correspondence. The move structures of the e-mail messages reflect the national cultures of the e-mail composers which are governed by the corporate cultures because different organizations have different norms to achieve communicative goals.