Investigating the factors of enterprise social media strain: The role of enterprise social media's visibility as a moderator.

Ying Li,Haoning Li,Abdul Hameed Pitafi,Zulqurnain Ali

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0264726

Abstract

The significant effect of enterprise social media (ESM) usage has been extensively researched. However, recent studies and analysis have also emphasized the importance of understanding the negative aspects of ESM’s use. By applying uses and gratifications theory (UGT), this study proposes a research model that tests how employees’ ESM usage (hedonic, social, and information values) leads to ESM-related strain through perceived information overload. The study collected data from 315 Chinese employees using a survey method and analyzed the results using AMOS 21.0 software. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to analyze the proposed hypothesis. The results indicate that perceived hedonic, social, and information values are significant predictors of perceived information overload. Such overload is also significantly associated with ESM-related strain. The results also indicate that ESM visibility strengthens the significant relationship between perceived information overload and ESM-related strain. Furthermore, managers can also train individuals to use ESM appropriately. We recommend that employees can better control and manage their ESM usage by recognizing the causes of excessive use.

Highlights

Enterprise social media (ESM) has introduced modern management practices to organizations, from the development of creative marketing plans to the transformation of connectivity, cooperation, and information exchange
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the gratification of needs and ESM-related strain through perceived information overload using data collected from Chinese employees
The literature recommends that the loading of all the items should be higher than 0.600 [72], and the results of Table 4 indicate that all the items have loadings higher than 0.600

Summary

Introduction

Enterprise social media (ESM) has introduced modern management practices to organizations, from the development of creative marketing plans to the transformation of connectivity, cooperation, and information exchange. An extensive literature shows that applying ESM to the workplace can improve individual job efficiency and productivity [1–5]. Previous research has found that proper use of ESM by individuals can benefit both workers and organizations [6, 7]. It can be detrimental if its use is excessive. As ESM becomes more widely used in the workplace, workers may be overwhelmed with information, interaction, and social messaging, resulting in perceived overload and strain.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion