The dark side of enterprise social media and employee digital creativity: Communication visibility perspective

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the significances of excessive usage of enterprise social media (ESM) on individuals’ digital creativity through ESM exhaustion. In addition, we intend to investigate the significance of ESM visibility as a moderator in the connection between excessive usage of ESM, ESM exhaustion, and digital creativity. The results presented in this study are derived from primary data collected from 718 Chinese workers who utilize ESM. The data analysis were conducted using SPSS version 23.0. Findings revealed that excessive usage of ESM is negatively linked to employee digital creativity and has a significant impact on ESM exhaustion. ESM exhaustion is negatively related to employee digital creativity. ESM visibility is further found to play a significant moderating role in strengthening the connection between excessive use of ESM and ESM exhaustion. Additionally, ESM visibility reinforces the negative association between excessive use of ESM and employee digital creativity. This study encompasses ESM users' perceptions of the connection between excessive ESM usage and its exhaustion, providing evidence for organizations to develop and manage ESM usage policies to mitigate the negative impact of ESM usage for employees.

Keywords

• ESM excessive usage
• ESM exhaustion
• ESM visibility
• Digital creativity