Merely using new collaboration technologies does not necessarily result in the desired benefits, which is why it is important to understand what constitutes effective use behavior. In information systems research, the affordance network approach has been developed as a methodological approach to investigate effective use behavior. The approach has already been applied to understand the effective use of electronic medical record systems and fitness wearables; however, it neglects how social influences foster or hinder effective use behavior in collaborative settings. Therefore, we supplemented the affordance network approach for collaborative contexts by using social network methods. We demonstrate our approach based on two university courses in which students carried out group work within the collaborative VR application Spatial. Thereby, we contribute a methodological approach that enables researchers to identify influential users who encourage their team members to actualize affordances leading to goal achievement
