In both remote and physical work environments, it is commonplace for help-seeking messages to be rejected by other colleagues. This paper investigates how signifying co-workers’ stress status would influence the social diction and empathy of help-seekers in the context of rejection. 36 participants were recruited to perform help-seeking tasks with virtual co-workers via a professional mobile messaging application (Trillian). Their device was tailored with a vibrotactile mechanism (TacStatus), which could signify different emotional states of the co-workers: no-cue, relaxed, normal, and stressful. Independent sample Friedman nonparametric tests were conducted to analyze the social diction and empathy of the participants in their messages for help-seeking and responses to the co-workers’ rejection. This study revealed that stress cues have observable impacts on the social diction and empathy of help-seekers. Stressful and relaxed cues were found to evidently shape the social diction of help-seekers. When faced with a relaxed co-worker, the help-seeker felt disappointed and unaccepted after being rejected. By contrast, when confronted with a stressful cue, help-seekers tended to exhibit relatively more positive emotions after been rejected. This study attempts to reveal the mechanism through which stress cues influence professional messaging interactions and collaboration. The findings could provide implications for the design of socio-emotional cues in the context of messaging.

在远程和物理工作环境中，寻求帮助的消息被其他同事拒绝是很常见的。本文研究了同事的压力状态如何影响寻求帮助者在遭到拒绝的情况下的社交用语和同理心。招募了 36 名参与者，通过专业的移动消息应用程序 (Trillian) 与虚拟同事一起执行寻求帮助的任务。他们的设备采用振动触觉机制（TacStatus）定制，可以表示同事的不同情绪状态：无提示、放松、正常和有压力。进行了独立样本弗里德曼非参数测试，以分析参与者在寻求帮助的信息中的社交用语和同理心以及对同事拒绝的反应。这项研究表明，压力线索对求助者的社交用语和同理心有明显的影响。研究发现，压力和放松的暗示明显影响了寻求帮助者的社交用语。当面对一个轻松的同事时，求助者在被拒绝后感到失望和不被接受。相比之下，当面对压力暗示时，寻求帮助者在被拒绝后往往会表现出相对更积极的情绪。本研究试图揭示压力线索影响专业信息交互和协作的机制。这些发现可以为消息传递背景下的社会情感线索的设计提供启示。