Improving Employee Agility Using Enterprise Social Media and Digital Fluency: Moderated Mediation Model

Chu Wei,Shamsa Kanwal,Ahsan Ali,Abdul Hameed Pitafi,Minglun Ren

doi:10.1109/access.2020.2983480

Abstract

The usage of enterprise social media (ESM) has rapidly increased in the workplace. Firms adopt the ESM platform for the knowledge sharing and work-related communication of employees. However, the efficient use of the ESM technology in the workplace remains a challenge for organizations and business leaders. Previous studies have inconsiderably focused on this domain of research. The existing research investigates the influence of ESM usage on employee agility through meta-knowledge considering the moderation role of digital fluency. Using 263 responses from Chinese employees, this study investigates how ESM usage improves employee agility through meta-knowledge. Results confirm that organizations can improve the meta-knowledge of employees through investment in the ESM technology and that ESM usage is significantly related to individual agility via meta-knowledge. Digital fluency strengthens the relationship between ESM usage and employee agility and supports the correlation between ESM usage and employee agility via meta-knowledge. Finally, on the basis of the results, the theoretical and managerial implications of the study are discussed.

Highlights

The enterprise social media (ESM) technology has increasingly penetrated the workplace, and organizations have been strategically deploying such technology to support the communication and collaboration of their employees [1], [2]
This research aims to address the role of meta-knowledge in enhancing employee agility in the ESM environment
Several scholars have reported the benefits of ESM usage in the workplace [29], [30]

Summary

Introduction

The enterprise social media (ESM) technology has increasingly penetrated the workplace, and organizations have been strategically deploying such technology to support the communication and collaboration of their employees [1], [2]. ESM relates to a digital system that allows employees to cooperate and share content with a particular partner or send messages to everyone in the workplace [3]. The distinctive features of ESM set it apart from existing communication and collaboration technologies. The ESM technology allows individuals to view other individual communications and discussions without the interdependence of time and space [4], [5]. Scholars have reported the several benefits of ESM usage in the workplace, in information sharing, social interaction, and work performance [6]. With such benefits, ESM usage elucidates employee agility, which is based on the individual capability to react and

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