Understanding Factors Influencing Employees’ Consumptive and Contributive Use of Enterprise Social Networks

There has been an exponential growth use of enterprise social networks for improved communication, connection, collaboration and enhanced knowledge sharing within organizations. However, the intended benefits of this social network deployment have not been fully realized due to the relative low usage among employees. This study provides an insight into the underlying factors deemed likely to influence employees’ enterprise social networks consumptive and contributive use by modifying and extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). An online survey was conducted and data were collected from 158 employees whose organizations are currently deploying a workplace social platform. The data were validated and analyzed using partial least square (PLS-SEM) method and Ordered Logistic Regression (OLR). Significant differences were found regarding the factors that influence consumptive and contributive use. The most influential factors for consumptive use are performance expectancy and content value, followed by facilitating conditions and effort expectancy. On the other hand, the contributive use is strongly influenced by social influence, content value and relationship expectancy. Moreover, a more balanced use pattern as measured by a smaller gap in consumptive and contributive use is shown to be positively associated with increased overall enterprise social network use. This study provides implications for managers to develop appropriate interventions to address idiosyncratic enterprise social network use patterns, minimize resistance and maximize effective utilization of the social platform among employees. This paper fulfills the need to identify important factors to be actively managed and manipulated to fully realize the benefits from the investment of enterprise social network.