Understanding the Impact of Instant Messaging (IM) on Subjective Task Complexity and User Satisfaction

Instant messenger is being rapidly deployed in the workplace. Current studies largely focus on the adoption of IM and how IM is used. Little research has been conducted to understand the potential impact of using IM in the workplace. This paper theorized and empirically tested how the frequency and social network characteristic of IM interruptions could interact with an individual’s polychronic orientation, i.e. multitasking preference, and jointly influence employee satisfaction and subjective task complexity. The study illustrates that polychrons are more satisfied with the multitasking work process deploying IM technology than monochrons. In addition, the effect of interruptions is dependent upon an individual’s polychronic orientation. The increase in interruption frequency only reduces the process satisfaction of monochrons but not polychrons. Further, the polychronic orientation of message receivers also influences how they process information. When IM messages are sent from their supervisors, monochrons tend to prioritize tasks and perceive a lower level of overall task complexity. The information processing of polychrons seem to be less influenced by the social characteristic of interruptions

Understanding the Determinants of User Acceptance of Enterprise Instant Messaging: An Empirical Study

As modern organizations increasingly depend on information systems (IS) to enhance work productivity and seek new business opportunities, communication effectiveness has become one of the key factors that underlie the effective performance of IS implementations and applications. Instant Messaging (IM) presents a revolution in enterprise communication. As more organizations are findings ways to utilize this near-synchronous computing communication technology to enhance communication effectiveness in the workplace, there is a compelling need to understand the factors that are important for the adoption of enterprise IM. We have developed an integrative model based on constructs of the existing IT adoption models as well as theories on motivation, innovation diffusion, and critical mass. Using responses from 140 intended subjects, we have found the results of survey data support the contentions that perceived usefulness, compatibility, enjoyment, and security are significant predictors of intention to use enterprise IM. Although perceived connectivity did not predict the intention directly, it did indirectly through perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Implications and future research are discussed

An Empirical Study of Behavioral Factors Influencing Text Messaging Intention

This manuscript provides a comprehensive review of many of the behavioral factors associated with the use of technology and tests their applicability to text messaging. The theories explored included End User Computer Satisfaction, Theory of Reasoned Action, Diffusion of Innovation, Theory of Planned Behavior, and Technology Acceptance Model. In addition, Positive and Negative Emotion factors were developed and tested to examine their influence on text messaging behavioral intention. Several statistical processes were utilized to develop and confirm the factors. The results of the study suggest that no one model can fully explain texting behavior but several factors did have a significant influence on intention at p \u3c .05. These factors were Attitude, Compatibility, Ease of Use, Satisfaction, and Visibility. These factors can serve as areas that practitioners and researchers can focus on to improve text messaging intention and obtain the significant benefits of this technology

Instant Messaging and Employee\u27s Performance: A Text Mining Approach

The adoption of Instant Messaging (IM) applications in the workplace remains contentious due to difficulties in adequately quantifying organizational benefits and how it affects individual performance. Previous research on the impact of IM usage on employee performance has been limited to analyzing primary data (i.e., survey methods), making it difficult to extrapolate the findings to a constantly changing workplace. In contrast, we investigate the relationships between these individuals\u27 IM usage at the workplace and their primary assessment metric in their organization, performance evaluation, using longitudinal data of employees\u27 IM activities and their performance evaluation collected from a US Fortune 500 financial company. Using cutting-edge text-mining techniques, we identify the primary purposes of IM utilization in organizations and assess the impact of those attributes on employee performance. Our findings show that IM in the workplace can improve team communication, knowledge-sharing experience, and social networking among employees, but it can also be disruptive. However, the combined effect of team communication and knowledge sharing on employee performance can overshadow the negative impact of IM interruption on employee performance

Mobile social media in inter-organizational projects: Aligning tool, task and team for virtual collaboration effectiveness

Inter-organizational projects face unique challenges and opportunities due to team diversities and task complexity. Mobile social media like WhatsApp and WeChat emerge as new-generation collaboration tools in such endeavors. Based on a literature review, this study posits that how well team-tool, task-tool and team-task relationships are handled shape virtual collaboration effectiveness. The conceptual framework, validated with the interviews from inter-organizational project team members in China and the USA, leads to a research model. The results of a larger-scale survey confirm that tool usability, task fit and team connectivity contribute to virtual collaboration effectiveness, which affects project management success and team appreciation. In addition, there are noticeable cross-country differences, especially the opposite moderating effects that degree of use imposes on the relationship between virtual collaboration effectiveness and project management success. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed

Exploring the relationship between multiple team membership and team performance: the role of social networks and collaborative technology

Firms devoted to research and development and innovative activities intensively use teams to carry out knowledge intensive work and increasingly ask their employees to be engaged in multiple teams (e.g. R&D project teams) simultaneously. The literature has extensively investigated the antecedents of single teams performance, but has largely overlooked the effects of multiple team membership (MTM), i.e., the participation of a focal team\u2019s members in multiple teams simultaneously, on the focal team outcomes. In this paper we examine the relationships between team performance, MTM, the use of collaborative technologies (instant messaging), and work-place social networks (external advice receiving). The data collected in the R&D unit of an Italian company support the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between MTM and team performance such that teams whose members are engaged simultaneously in few or many teams experience lower performance. We found that receiving advice from external sources moderated this relationship. When MTM is low or high, external advice receiving has a positive effect, while at intermediate levels of MTM it has a negative effect. Finally, the average use of instant messaging in the team also moderated the relationship such that at low levels of MTM, R&D teams whose members use instant messaging intensively attain higher performance while at high levels of MTM an intense use of instant messaging is associated with lower team performance. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications for innovative firms engaged in multitasking work scenarios

Does adoption mean the same to every user? A study of active and passive usage of mobile instant messaging applications

This research-in-progress paper studies the active and passive usage of mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications. Grounded on two-factor theory and three-factor theory, we propose the features of MIM applications influence the active/passive usage of MIM applications through users’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The proposed features are categorized into three factors: exciting factors which contain design aesthetics, customization and enjoyment, performance factors which include sociability, convenience and privacy assurance, and basic factors which are application costs and technical functionality. To test hypothetical relationships in this study, we plan to use a survey method. The potential implications to both literature and practice are discussed

E-Mail Overload and Instant Messaging: Different Investigative Dimensions

While there have been extensive investigations on email overload, the main source of this business and management problem has received less attention so far. There are claims that using Instant Messaging (IM) reduces email overload, however, this has not been validated by academic research findings. This paper investigates how email overload is generated, and why IM is claimed to reduce it. Data collection was through the use of a quantitative mono-method, via an anonymous Survey Monkey online questionnaire. Respondents are members of an international professional body – The International Institute of Risk & Safety Management (IIRSM) – and work in different countries, industries and organizations. A cross-sectional Case Study, with an inductive approach is used. Results provide evidence that email overload is not externally-generated and that using IM does help reduce this internally-generated overload. A potential link between email overload, IM use and industry is observed. This study helps develop a more comprehensive understanding of email overload and contributes unique findings focused on establishing the main source of this universal workplace problem. Claims that IM reduces overload come from marketing material and newspaper articles lacking empirical evidence. This research is the first to establish whether or not these claims are true

How Many Teams Should We Manage at Once? The Effect of Multiple Team Membership, Collaborative Technologies, and Polychronicity on Team Performance

We explore the relationship between multiple team membership (the extent to which team members are engaged in more than one team and switch between different teams in a work day) and team performance. We argue that the number of MTMs has an inverted U-shaped relationship with team performance while the team average daily MTM is negatively related to performance. We propose that the use of collaborative technologies moderates the above relationships: when MTM is low technology use helps teams attain higher performance, when MTM is high collaborative technology use reduces performance. Conversely, variance in perceptions of technologies’ usefulness negatively moderates the above relationships. Finally, we expect teams whose members are more polychronic to perform better when MTM is high, but teams whose members are very diverse in terms of polychronicity to experience reduced performance. We are exploring these issues through a mixed-methods field study conducted in an IT consulting firm

Team Climate and Media Choice in Virtual Teams

As work teams become more distributed, effective computer-mediated communication is increasingly impacting their performance. This study investigates how team climate influences communication frequency among team members and their use of different communication media. Data were collected in two information systems courses offered at an Austrian university in which 50 student teams developed web-based applications and conducted usability tests. A team climate framework based on task and social orientation was used to assess the teams’ performance and communication patterns. We found that both task and social dimensions of team climate were positively related to higher communication frequency as well as objective and subjective performance. Among other things, the results suggest that a task-oriented climate is especially linked to the use of e-mail, while social orientation is linked to the use of face-to-face meetings. We also found differences in communication patterns and performance across four different types of team climates (fully functioning, cozy, cold, and dysfunctional). The results underscore the importance of both task and social dimensions for a team to perform well. Our study contributes to both the academic literature that investigates factors affecting media choice and the practitioner literature that examines how to manage virtual teamwork effectively