Analyzing the Factors Driving the Usage of Enterprise Social Network

Connectivity and networking benefits of social media platforms have motivated organizations to deploy similar model in an organizational setting in the form of Enterprise Social Network (ESN) with an objective to increase collaboration among employees. Further, ESN is considered more relevant in today's digital business environment where organizations have to deal with collaboration and communication challenges faced by teams that have members operating from different locations and time zones. Once the ESN is implemented the next challenge for the organization is to ensure the participation of employees and keeping them motivated to use ESN for interacting with their peers. This paper aims to elucidate the factors that influence employees' decision to use ESN in the context of Indian organizations. In this study, a conceptual model is developed on the theoretical grounding of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology theory, Technology-Organization-Environment framework, Social Capital theory and Critical Mass theory. This study proposes that employees' ESN usage behavior is driven by individual factors (i.e. perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment), organizational factors (i.e. top management support, facilitating conditions, and collaborative norms), as well as social factors (i.e. perception of the critical mass). Data was collected using questionnaire survey method. According to the data analysis of this study, all the six factors were found statistically significant. While, support from top management was identified as the most significant factor that encourages the use of ESN, followed by the perception of critical mass regarding the usage of ESN in an organization.