Analysis Of The Relationship Between Enterprise Social Media Affordances And Work Performance

One of the derivatives of collective work is knowledge,and this remains a significant resource to any organization,either valued as capital or part of the intangible assets of that organization.The effective application of knowledge,through processing and transfer mediums can impact positively work performance.Available data shows that there has been a growing dependence and usage of social media sites across the world and many companies have sought to adopt the features of these sites towards improving on internal communications,and in extension,affect performance.Halfway between internal knowledge sharing and traditional social networks,Enterprise Social Medias(ESM)are an internal communication tool intended to optimize exchanges between employees via social functions.In addition to a more modern managerial strategy,ESM would make it possible to better mobilize collective intelligence,to counter the distance induced by teleworking and to increase cohesion within the company.In recent years,many companies have been able to adopt proprietary ESM software which mimic the features of publicly available social media sites but provide more security and better control over features like access.This has allowed information sharing and generation to improve across various departments within these organizations,as the ESM affordances such as visibility,persistence,association and editability allow for employees to access knowledge and contribute it so that organizational performance can be impacted.However,it is important to understand the extent to which the adoption of ESM and the affordances that come with it can impact work performance through knowledge transfer.As noted already,the ESM affordances selected were visibility,persistence,association and editability,the work performance factors considered were task and contextual performance,while the elements of knowledge transfer considered were knowledge acquisition and provision.To provide greater focus in the research,the STARCom ESM software used by managers and staff of Star formed the basis for the research.ESM affordances have significant effects on knowledge acquisition and knowledge provision.The findings also confirm that more specifically,the association affordance is seen to have a more direct impact on knowledge acquisition than on knowledge provision within an organization.The findings made from this research help in drawing the conclusion that knowledge acquisition and knowledge provision within an organization have a positive association with work performance.This essentially means therefore that employees in an organization,having relevant knowledge to apply towards the work that they do,and to be able to share with others can improve upon performance significantly.The findings also made from the data analyzed showed that in terms of knowledge acquisition on the ESM affordances and work performance(contextual and task performance)there was no mediating effect identified.There was also a complementary mediation of knowledge provision on the relationship between the ESM affordances and work performance,and therefore this also indicates that the association affordance has a more direct influence on work performance.The research adds to extant knowledge of ESM technologies adoptions and implications for knowledge transfer and work performance.For almost a year,the world has been confronted with situations which have profoundly changed their way of working,in particular with the upsurge,then the widespread implementation of remote work.The Covid-19 epidemic that has hit many all countries,employers and employees must redouble their efforts and imagination to work and communicate differently during such periods.Although they might be difficult to live on a personal and/or professional level,these periods nevertheless remain conducive to the use of new or hitherto under-exploited tools such as the ESM offer employees of a company the same functionalities as mainstream social networks(profile,news feed,like,comment,sharing,etc.).Convinced of being able to capitalize on the uses already acquired in the private sphere,many companies have decided to adopt this collaborative tool as soon as they appear by opting for solutions such as Workplace from Facebook,Yammer from Microsoft,Jive from Aurea or even developing their very own social network and implementing them on their intranet.However,with hindsight,the results of appropriation and use are very far from the uses observed on mainstream social networks.Indeed,several studies have shown both managers and employees' reluctance to use their enterprise social media.Those results can be explained by several reasons such as the lack of awareness of the value of using Enterprise Social Media,the lack of support in getting to grips with the tool for both managers and employees,the fear of being judged(on the way of expressing oneself,on the subject raised,on the way to use the tool),an often-absent co-construction which does not favor the use or even the lack of visibility on the use of data.However,in a context of widespread teleworking,circumstances have changed because companies and employees have even greater communication needs.If they had struggled to find their audience until then,their advantages now seem to be highlighted.Needs which can in most cases be covered by the functionalities offered by a Enterprise Social Medias.Indeed,thanks to these tools,companies can now manage to communicate en masse to inform employees of major company actions and decisions through media such as video or blog posts.It also offers the possibility of creating and maintaining proximity to prevent employees from locking themselves up and leading teams remotely through a dedicated community,through a challenge.More generally,ESM allows the company to simplify and centralize exchanges.On the employee's side,ESM affords them to seek and find information necessary for the smooth running of their teleworking(connection,access to the network,etc.),to discuss business issues in dedicated communities,to ask questions,etc.Aware of the benefits and given the current context,many companies have decided to capitalize on these already established tools and have,in the space of a few weeks,become essential for communicating with unprecedented grip and use.It is certain that everyone will emerge changed from these different crises.Companies will have learned to diversify their communication(in substance,form and channels)and to abandon the traditional email in favor of more collaborative and interactive media.Employees,for their part,will have,by force of circumstances,discovered or deepened the interest in ESM until then shunned or underexploited.However,it is a safe to say that after a return to normalcy,everyone is at risk of resuming their old habits.Companies must equip themselves to maintain these new uses by continuing to make the most of the functionalities of ESM.Nonetheless,this also relies upon employees who can be real promoters of this tool,which makes their daily lives easier,all the more so now that the appropriation has been made.Finally,these tools continue to prove their value during these periods of teleworking,but they should not be limited to uses of "crises" because the collaborative,interactivity,exchange and sharing remain essential concepts regardless of the period.Since a considerable amount of time is spent searching for information on internet or by email,an ESM is therefore intended to be a medium making it possible to reach a much larger target(all employees of the chosen channel)and much more quickly.With the risk of missing information,of not copying the right people,“one of the problems that arise in business is the clutter of mailboxes.A wishful thinking is that ESM make it possible to streamline exchanges and to reduce the number of meetings.Ideally,they can be an opportunity for visibility for employees,and improve monitoring and knowledge sharing.” At the heart of the success of ESM is information.Researched,transmitted,exploited,multiplied...it is one of the major challenges of post-Covid-19 working methods.The game of new communication in business complies with rules of use supposed to promote better collaboration between employees and maintain a social link that was damaged in 2020.