“E-communication, Internet use and the efficiency of time billing professionals”.

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“E-communication, Internet Use and the Efficiency

of time billing professionals”

Kelly Warmerdam

5877679

July 2013

Academic year: 2012-2013

Semester 2, Block 2

Drs. Maarten de Haas & Dr. Wendelien Van Eerde

Master thesis: Leading and Managing People

Faculty of Economics and Business

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Abstract

Access to e-mail and the Internet has become the standard for many organizations and their employees. Nowadays, employees rely heavily on the use of Internet and e-communication for their daily work activities. The Internet has brought organizations benefits such as the increased access to and distribution of information and effective communication within the organization or with clients. However, this constant access to Internet has also brought about another consequence, a diminishing efficiency of employees distracted by the use and perhaps misuse of e-communication and Internet provided by the organization. Research has shown the antecedents and consequences of cyberslacking, however has stayed behind with regard to the possible loss of efficiency by work-related use. Professional service firms nowadays rely heavily on the digital communication and information possibilities. However, research on the efficiency of e-communication and the performance of professionals is thus far non-existent. This research focuses on the effects of e-communication and Internet use on the efficiency of time billing professionals. The findings of the research on cyberslacking will be used to analyse the antecedents that determine the effects on law firm employees.

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5.2.2 Reliability of scales.………. 27 5.2.2 Descriptive statistics………. 28 5.2.3 Regression analysis………... 31 Paragraph 6: Discussion.….……… ... 33 6.1 Test of hypotheses…………..……… 33 6.2 Limitations………..……… 34 6.3 Managerial implications……..……… 34 4

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6.4 Future research……….……..……… 36

6.5 Conclusion…………..……..……… 37

References……… 38

Appendix 2: Interview questions………..………. 40

Appendix 3: Survey questions……….... 41

Appendix 3: Billable and non-billable hours summary……….... 48

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1 Introduction

Nowadays access to the Internet has become the standard for many organizations and their employees. Employees rely heavily on the use of Internet and e-communication for their daily work activities (Blanchard & Henle, 2008; Eivazi, 2011). The Internet has brought

organizations benefits such as the increased access to and distribution of information and effective communication within the organization or with clients. However this same constant access to Internet has also brought about other consequences, inefficiency, disturbance, non-billable work, or even: the new phenomenon of using the Internet provided by the

organization for personal use (Lim, 2002).

When looking at E-communication and the use of Internet for work purposes, there is no research that provides a model for this phenomenon and the effect on efficiency. However, there have been many studies that provide models for the effect on efficiency of

E-communication and the use of Internet for private purposes. This is why this research will use cyberslacking as a research model to investigate the mechanisms and antecedents of

inefficiency with regards to the use of E-communication and the Internet.

In the last few years, according to Malachowski (2005, cited in Blanchard & Henle, 2008), the private use of Internet in the workplace has become the number one time wasting activity by employees in the workplace. Liberman, Seidman, McKenna and Buffardi (2011) provided a survey that shows that 84% of employees use the organizations’ Internet to send personal e-mails and 90% of employees are engaged in non work-related use of the Internet. This phenomenon can be described by the terms cyberslacking or cyberloafing. The definition for cyberslacking, as well as cyberloafing, is the use of the companies’ Internet access by employees’ for non-work related activities (Lim, 2002). In this research the term

cyberslacking will be used. Cyberslacking is a relatively new phenomenon in the scientific research; but the research with a focus on cyberslacking is increasing. An increasing amount of articles focuses on the consequences, either positive or negative, or on the antecedents of cyberslacking.

Time billing professionals are nowadays a, well-documented, occupational group (De Haas, 2009; Nordenflycht, 2010). Time billing professionals such as lawyers, consultants, or accountants need to register and bill the time they spend on the specific clients’ matters. The present research will focus on lawyers, who are affected notably by the loss of efficient, thus billable, time. Not many researchers have studied the impact of possible inefficiency caused by Internet and E-communication. Surveys have shown that the efficiency of time and billing

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behavior of these professionals has decreased within the last few years (de Haas, 2009). For people outside of this sector “time billing” may seem an easy job, but the reality is completely different, especially with regard to the distinction between billable and non-billable time (de Haas, 2009). The use of Internet at work has had impact on the efficiency and the time billing of lawyers, in positive and negative ways (de Haas, 2009). In this research the focus will be on the declining efficiency of time billing lawyers. Internet and e-communication might play an important role in this declining efficiency (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Vitak et al., 2011), but this has never been studied. This is why the focus of this research will be on the influence of e-communication and Internet on the efficiency of lawyers. To study this influence, this research will use cyberslacking as a research model to investigate the mechanisms and antecedents of inefficiency with regard to the use of E-communication and the Internet. This research will increase the amount of research on the performance of time billing professionals and will give rise to new insights about the effects of the use of Internet and E-mail on the efficiency of these professionals.

In the following chapter the main findings of the last few decades, with regard to cyberslacking and professional services, will be presented, followed by the research question.

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2 Literature review

In this chapter the main theoretical backgrounds regarding professional services and

cyberslacking will be presented. In section 2.1 the definition of professional services will be set out. Next, in section 2.2 the main definitions of cyberslacking will be presented. Section 2.3 presents the antecedents of cyberslacking and finally in section 2.4 the consequences of cyberslacking will be set out.

2.1 Professional services

In the last couple of years the interest in professional service firms in the literature has increased. According to Nordenflycht (2010, p. 155), this is because: “these types of firms face a distinctive environment that demands distinctive theories of management”. A problem of the literature of professional services firms is the lack of a clear definition for this sector (Nordenflycht, 2010; Malhotra, Morris, & Hinings, 2006). Most articles only provide examples such as accounting firms, law firms and consulting firms but do not provide the reader with a definition (Nordenflycht, 2010).

Nordenflycht (2010, p. 164) also does not provide a clear definition. However, he describes different degrees of professional service intensity based on three characteristics: knowledge intensity, low capital intensity and professional workforce (Nordenflycht, 2010). Knowledge intensity is defined as: “The indication that production of a firm’s output relies on a substantial body of complex knowledge” (Nordenflycht, 2010, p. 159). The second

characteristic, low capital intensity implies that the production of a firm does not involve great amounts of nonhuman assets (Nordenflycht, 2010, p. 162). Finally the third

characteristic, professional workforce, refers to the presence of a professional ideology and self-regulation (Nordenflycht, 2010, p. 163). In this research the focus will be on law firms, which meet all three characteristics and thus can be labeled as a classic professional service firm.

There is not a large body of research on Law firms but the legal industry and the law professionals form an interesting study object because their performance depends in a large degree on a precise and continuous registration of their billable time, (de Haas, 2009). Time billing has become a hot topic, as its efficiency has appeared to decrease in the last few years (de Haas, 2009). The reasons and mechanisms behind this decreasing efficiency have not yet been investigated. This is why this study will investigate the influence of E-communication and Internet on the efficiency of time billing professionals.

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In the following paragraph the main definitions of cyberslacking will be presented, these will be used as a research model to investigate the mechanisms and antecedents of inefficiency with regards to the use of E-communication and the Internet.

2.1.1 Efficiency of professional services workers

There is no overall clear definition for the term efficiency concerning time billing professionals. That is why within this research the following definition will be used: the amount of registered billable time relative to the total amount of available working time.

A second definition, provided by the company itself, focuses on how efficient lawyers can work on cases when being interrupted by E-communication, Internet and administrative matters, will also be used next to the first definition. This second definition will focus more on employees’ responses as to what extent some proceedings influence their way of working, in a negative manner, and decrease their pace of working on a case.

Finally the results will present the views of employees on different definitions of efficiency, provided by the employees, will be presented. This will give a clear insight as to which of the two definition employees tend to gravitate, or whether their definitions lead to

new insights.

2.2 Cyberslacking

Since Internet has become a commodity, the amount of research on this topic has increased. Recent literature describes the abuse of Internet during working hours with many different definitions. Examples of these definitions are Cyberloafing, Cyberslacking, Personal Web Use (PWU) and Junk Computing. The definition of cyberloafing is presented by Blanchard & Henle (2008, p. 1068): “employees’ voluntary non-work related use of company provided email and Internet while working”. Cyberslacking and PWU both have the same definition as cyberloafing. Secondly, Junk Computing can be defined as: “an employee’s usage of

organization information system resources for personal purposes, not directly related to organizational goals” (Bock & Ho, 2009, p. 125). This last definition also includes the offline use, which is not relevant to this research. Therefore, in this research the term cyberslacking will be used to define the phenomenon of the use of Internet during work hours for a personal purpose (Blanchard & Henle, 2008; Bock & Ho, 2009; Vitak, Crouse & LaRose, 2011).

The next paragraph will present the main antecedents of cyberslacking.

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2.3 Antecedents of cyberslacking as a model for this study

In the last couple of years many researchers have presented different sets of cyberslacking antecedents. These antecedents can be divided into five different groups, demographic characteristics, job specific attitudes, personality traits, job related characteristics and work environment characteristics.

2.3.1 Demographic characteristics

The first group, demographic antecedents, consists of characteristics such as gender, age, household income and education (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Vitak et al., 2010). According to Garret and Danziger (2008), men are more prone to cyberslacking than women, young men are more prone than old men and being a racial minority also has an impact on the

engagement in cyberslacking.

2.3.2 Employee attitudes, Job involvement & Job satisfaction

The second group of antecedents concerns the attitudes of employees, for example: job and intrinsic involvement, perceived status, job satisfaction, self-control, punctuality, attendance and perceived autonomy (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Libermann et al., 2011).

2.3.2.1 Job involvement

The defining of job involvement has caused some confusion over the years (Lambert & Paoline, 2012). Kejner (1965, p. 24, as presented in Lambert & Pauline, 2012) presented the first definition by conceptualizing job involvement as: "the degree in which a person is identified psychologically with his work or the importance of work in his total self-image". Kejner (1965, p. 25, as presented in Lambert & Pauline, 2012) added to this by seeing job involvement as the result of how "work performance affects a person's self-esteem".

According to Kanungo (1982, p. 342) the definition by Kejner (1965 as presented in Lambert & Pauline, 2012) lacked conceptual clarity by using two different concepts in one definition. Kanungo (1982, p. 342) defined job involvement only as the cognitive

identification of the job. This is explained by Lambert & Pauline (2012, p. 266) by stating that: "job involvement focuses on the degree of central interest the job plays in a person's life,

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and therefore is the degree of psychological identification a person has with the type of work that he or she is doing".

The definition of job involvement which is used in this article is the definition of Paullay, Alliger, and Stone-Romero (1994, p. 224, as presented in Lambert & Pauline, 2012). They define job involvement as: "when an employee “is cognitively preoccupied with, engaged in, and concerned with one’s present job” (Alliger, and Stone-Romero, 1994, p. 224, as presented in Lambert & Pauline, 2012).

Research has found that the higher the job involvement of employees, the lower the intention of employees to invest time in cyberslacking behavior (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Libermann et al., 2011). To investigate whether this same relationship holds for Internet and E-communication use among time billing professionals, this research will study the

relationship between employees' job involvement and their use of Internet and E-communication

2.3.2.2 Job satisfaction

A frequently used definition of job satisfaction is presented by Locke (1976, p. 1304), defining it as "a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job and job experience". Job satisfaction has been studied both as a global aspect and as a concept consisting of two facets (Nguni, Sleegers & Denessen, 2006). Nguni, Sleegers and Denessen (2006, p. 152) define the first facet, the intrinsic one, as "the level of satisfaction with features associated with the job itself". The second facet, the extrinsic one, is defined as "the level of satisfaction with various features associated with the environment in which the work is performed” (Nguni, Sleegers & Denessen, 2006, p. 152). Within this research the definition of Locke (1976, p. 1304), job satisfaction as a general construct, will be used.

Studies have demonstrated that the higher the job satisfaction of employees the lower the intention of employees to invest time in cyberslacking behavior (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Libermann et al., 2011). To investigate whether this same relationship holds for Internet and E-communication use among time billing professionals, this research will study the

relationship between employees job satisfaction and their use of Internet and E-communication.

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2.3.3 Personality traits

The third group, the personality traits, consists of the big five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness) (Salgado, 2004). When studying the antecedents of cyberslacking the relationship between these personality traits and Internet use is important as it might predict a persons’ behavior related to E-communication and Internet use (Van Doorn, 2011, p. 13). In his research, Van Doorn (2011, p. 13) states: “From literature of general Internet use and Cyberloafing, relations between personality traits and Cyberloafing could be expected. Including these personality traits therefore can shed light on the influence of personal characteristics on activities and behaviors with regard to Internet and e-communication.

From these five traits two will be included in this research, conscientiousness and neuroticism. In order to limit the length of the questionnaire, I limited my research to these two factors, because conscientiousness and neuroticism are frequently found to be the most relevant in relation to performance of employees. (Van Doorn, 2011)

2.3.3.1 Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness is one of the Big Five personality constructs that will be used within this research. Conscientiousness consists of the following traits: dependability, planfulness, self-discipline, and perseverance (McCrae & Costa, 1987, as presented in Lv et al., 2012).

According to Templer (2012, p. 94) conscientiousness is conceptualized as "extending from a high end of giving to others, contributing to society, working hard, and being highly

responsible to a low end of being dishonest, exploitative, parasitic, and violent".

To conclude, conscientiousness can be exemplified by being disciplined, organized, and achievement-oriented (Komarraju, Karau, Schmeck & Avdic, 2011, p. 472).

Research has found that an employee who has a high score on conscientiousness has a lower intention to invest time in cyberslacking behavior (Garret & Danziger, 2008;

Libermann et al., 2011). To investigate whether this same relationship holds for Internet and E-communication use among time billing professionals, the focus of this research will be on the relationship between employees' conscientiousness score and their use of Internet and E-communication.

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2.3.3.2 Neuroticism

The second construct of the Big Five that will be used is neuroticism. Neuroticism can be defined as "the differences between people in their emotional stability or in how they experience negative feelings" (Bipp & Kleinbeck, 2011, p. 454). According to Judge et al., (2002, p. 767) neuroticism represents "the tendency to exhibit poor emotional adjustment and experience negative affects". Komarraju et al., (2011, p. 472) add to this by stating that: "Neuroticism refers to the degree of emotional stability, impulse control, and anxiety. Facets of this construct or trait consist of anxiety, angry-hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness and vulnerability (Costa & McCrae, 1995, as presented in Bipp & Kleinbeck, 2011, p. 454).

It is perceived that an employee who has a high score on neuroticism also has a higher intention to invest time in cyberslacking behavior (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Libermann et al., 2011). To investigate whether this relationship holds for Internet and E-communication use among time billing professionals, the focus of this research will be on the relationship between employees' neuroticism score and their use of Internet and E-communication

2.3.4 Job related characteristics & work environment characteristics

Fourthly, job related characteristics might be considered as antecedents. Examples are: the amount of creativity that is necessary for doing the job, the amount of hours on internet required for the job, and convenient access to Internet on the job (Blau et al., 2006; Garret & Danziger, 2008; Vitak et al., 2011). The last group of potential antecedents is the work environment characteristics. This group consists of the perception of cyberslacking

of co-workers, managerial support for Internet usage and organizational justice (Blancard and Henle, 2008; DeLara, 2007; Libermann, 2011, Lim & Theo, 2008; Restubog et al., 2011). Time billing lawyers need creativity within their job, many hours on the Internet are required to do the job, and there is convenient access to Internet on the job (de Haas, 2009).

Cyberloafing is very probably not an issue among co-workers and there is managerial support for Internet usage (de Haas, 2009). Job and environment are not distinctive for our target group of law professionals, so this study will not include these two groups of antecedents.

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3 The research question

The main research questions regard the antecedents (demographic characteristics, employee attitude and personality traits) of the use of E-communication and Internet within the law profession and its effect on the efficiency of lawyers. First, the antecedents of efficient Internet and E-communication use, demographic variables, employee attitudes and

personality traits, are investigated for this specific profession. Secondly, the effect of Internet and E-communication use on the decreasing efficiency of time billing lawyers will be

investigated. The hypotheses are developed and formulated in the following sections

3.1 The hypotheses related to the antecedents

To conclude, considering these four groups of antecedents in combination with the profession of lawyers it is arguable that the first three groups (specific demographic characteristics, employee attitude and personality traits) might have the highest impact on the effect of E-communication and Internet use on the efficiency of time billing professionals. The hypotheses related to these three groups are as follows.

Hypothesis 1: Specific demographic characteristics (gender, age, overall work experience, work experience at the company, section) are antecedents for efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers.

Hypothesis 2: Employee attitudes are antecedents for efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers.

Hypothesis 2a: Job involvement has a positive effect on efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers.

Hypothesis 2b: Job satisfaction has a positive effect on efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers.

Hypothesis 3: Specific personality traits are antecedents for efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers.

Hypothesis 3a: Conscientiousness has a positive effect on efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers.

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Hypothesis 3a: neuroticism has a negative effect on efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers.

Having presented the antecedents of cyberslacking the consequences of cyberslacking will be described in the following section.

3.2 Consequences of E-communication and Internet use on the efficiency of lawyers, using cyberslacking as a model for this study

E-communication and Internet have positive and negative consequences. Doorn (2011) has demonstrated the relationship between cyberslacking and job performance. Cyberslacking has been considered as a significant predictor of work inefficiency. The biggest impact was caused by e-mail and chatting, because it demands a lot of attention from employees and has an addictive nature (Li & Chung, 2006; van Doorn, 2011).

So, from the findings of cyberslacking research in combination with the profession of lawyers follows that the use of E-communication and internet is one of the reasons behind the decreasing efficiency of lawyers, as we will use cyberslacking as a research model for the effect of E-communication and Internet use on the efficiency of Lawyers. This is why the focus of this research will be on the effect of E-communication and Internet on the efficiency of lawyers. The accompanying hypothesis is:

Hypothesis 4: The excessive use of E-communication and the Internet has a negative impact on the efficiency of Lawyers.

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4 Methods

In the following sections the case will be described, after which a description of the instruments and procedures will be set out and finally the strengths and weaknesses of this research design will be presented.

4.1 Description of the Case study

The case study is conducted at a leading big Dutch Law firm. This law firms desires to stay anonymous. The respondents of this case study will be the lawyers employed by this firm. The firm was chosen as one of the leading law firms that might be regarded as exemplary and serve as a model for these firms and of time billing professionals in general. The effects of E-communication and Internet use on the efficiency of time billing professionals might be considered of major importance for this firm. The firm has offices in Amsterdam and several foreign cities, but also works together with local foreign partners. The number of partners of this firm is appr 60; the firm has 200+ associates and appr 300 support staff.

The firm has been approached for this research via the network of a thesis supervisor, and has accepted to invest in this research. Respondents will be approached from within the firm.

4.2 Description of research instruments and procedures.

In this case study four different instruments will be used; database research, interviews, questionnaires. The first two instruments, database research and interviews will be used on an exploratory basis. It will produce preliminary insights in the problem and will be used as input for the questionnaires and hypotheses. The questionnaires will be used to test the hypotheses.

4.2.1 Exploratory instruments and procedures

The research will start with a data analysis of existing data within the firm to confirm that the efficiency of time billing professionals has decreased since the Internet has evolved. The company will provide the data.

The second instrument that will be used is interviews. The interviews will be

conducted to collect information from the lawyers of the company who have experienced the

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effects of email and Internet. There will be 7 semi-structured interviews. There will be three interviews with young lawyers who have only worked with having access to the Internet and four interviews with older lawyers who have been working with and without the availability of Internet. Purpose of these interviews is to investigate whether the time billing professionals noticed a change in the efficiency of their time billing due to email and Internet. Topics that will be in the interviews are the declining efficiency, the reasons for this declining efficiency, and the experience with regard to the use of E-communication and Internet, and ideas for a solution. The interview will last for fifteen minutes, because time billing professionals do not have more time. The interviews will be recorded.

So, the data analysis and the interviews are used to look for trends and to see where the problems lay and to develop the questions about email- and Internet-use to use in the questionnaire. Finally, these interviews will help to test hypothesis 4.

4.2.2 Explanatory instruments and procedures

The third instrument that will be used is a questionnaire; which is used to provide answers to the hypotheses. The insights gained from the database research and interviews are the basis for the questionnaire. The hypotheses will be tested by an online questionnaire that will enable me to collect data from approximately 120 lawyers of the Firm. The sample of this research will consist of employees within one specific organization. It is known that

employees can evaluate things differently in other industries and that this fact might restrict the generalizability of the findings to a certain degree (Crane and Matten, 2010, pp. 55-57). A response of 60 employees is expected.

The surveys will be administered in Dutch. Apart from the personal data and general questions, respondents will be asked to answer on a five or a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1 ‘completely disagree’ to 5 or 7 ‘completely agree’. The survey includes four measures demographic variables, employee attitude, personality traits and use of E-communication and Internet. Demographic variables will consist of 4 items: gender, age, practice-area and tenure.

Employee attitude include two different constructs, Job involvement and Job satisfaction. Job involvement will be measured with the use of 10 items such as: “the most important things that happen to me involve my present job” and “to me, my job is only a small part of who I am”. All items were derived from Kanungo (1982). Job satisfaction will be measured on an 3-item scale contained from Cammann, Fichman, Jenkins & Klesh (1983) with questions such as: “Altogether my current job as a lawyer pleases me well” and “At this

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firm I’m working with pleasure”.

Conscientiousness, one of the five personality traits will be measured with 12 items, such as “I keep my things neat and orderly” and “I work hard to achieve my goals”.

Neuroticism, the second personality trait that will be used, will also be measured with 12 items. These 12 items consist of for example: “I rarely feel lonely or sad” and “ I often feel inferior to others”. All items with regards to the personality traits were contained from Hoekstra, Ormel & De Fuyt (1996)

The last variable: use of E-communication and the Internet efficiency, will be measured with a new scale, which is based on the interviews. It will be measured with 6 items, such as “I use my email efficiently” and “I could use my Internet more efficiently ”. These items were added after receiving directions from the company. It will also be measured with two separate questions, “what percentage of your e-communication and internet use do you see as efficient?” and “what percentage of your e-communication and internet use do you see as billable?”

4.3 Strengths and weaknesses of this research design

The sample of this research will consist of employees within one specific organization, a single case study. It is known that employees can evaluate things differently in other firms or industries and that this fact might restrict the generalizability of the findings to a certain degree (Crane and Matten, 2010, pp. 55-57). When looking at the specific research instruments it becomes clear that by using multiple instruments, exploratory as well as

explanatory, triangulation is created, which increases the validity of the outcomes (Yin, 2009)

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5 Results

In the following two sections de results will be presented. In the first section the results of the database research and the interviews will be set out. Finally, in the last section the results of the questionnaire will be presented.

5.1 Results exploratory part

The exploratory part consists of the database research and the interviews. In section 5.1.1 I will present the database research results and in section 5.1.2 the results from the interviews.

5.1.1 Results exploratory part: database research

The database research was done in order to confirm the declining efficiency of time billing professionals since the Internet has evolved, by looking at the billable and non-billable hours.

The company provided a summary of the billable and non-billable hours from 2005 until 2012. Included were total recorded time, available time, FTE’s, percentages of billable and non-billable hours, part-time hours, and the percentage of non-billable hours. These data (excluding part-time hours) were provided for different professional levels and different departments.

The percentage of billable hours appeared stable over the years (and even increased in some years) for the Dutch offices, partners, counsel, associates, trainees and all departments from 2005 until 2012. The distinguished departments are litigation, corporate, and

miscellaneous. However, the data also show that the percentage of non-billable hours

increases over time for all professional levels and within the company. Before concluding that this can be an indication of inefficiency we have to look at the part-time factor. The data show that the amount of part-time hours has declined over the years, indicating that the amount of non-billable hours has decreased even more because working part-time causes an increase in non-billable hours. These final findings can be an indication of increased inefficiency. The following Section will show the results of the interviews.

5.1.2 Results exploratory part: interviews

Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted.. In this Section the most important findings and quotes will be presented. Interviewees were employees from different departments and sub departments from practice: intellectual property, C&R, the board, MACM and different

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professional levels: advocaat medewerker (lawyer: associate), advocaat stagiare (lawyer: trainee), advocaat compagnon (lawyer: partner) and Bestuurslid Managing Partner (board member). All interviewees have been working at the company since they graduated from university, their work-experience at the company being 2,7, 8.5, 22, 30 and 31 years.

E-communication and Internet is seen as a great advantage for companies and their employees, it is used for communicating with clients, counterparties, colleagues, and internal communication. It is also used for sending papers, looking for literature and checking the news. Examples of advantages are: “I find that life has only gotten better, because it allows you to deliver higher quality than before.” and “It gives you freedom to work where you want to work, whether it is at home, at the airport, in the train, everywhere”. An example of a disadvantage is: “Well, what I do see is that a lot of bullshit email pass by, and I’m not even discussing spam right now. I understand that approximately 70% of all crap that passes by is selectively removed. Right now I receive about 80 to 100 emails a day and actually that is not manageable”’.

The transition over the years, from no Internet to where we are to day, has been very gradual. Employees state the following, when looking at this transition: “When I arrived here there were still partners who printed their email and wrote down their answers,which were then typed out by their secretaries. Yes, that is really sad. At that moment in time their opinion was that you could not discuss anything of substance via email. A client should receive a real letter or fax, or with some luck even use a carrier pigeon. Pretty sad really.” A second interviewee stated: “ I also experienced a time when there was a central email address only. Then I kept nagging, guys we really need individual email addresses for everyone. Well that was what happened. The same happened with the use of a Blackberry, I had been nagging about that for ages. So, I’m really an advocate of the use of email and internet.”

Most activities on the computer consist of the following programs: Explorer, Outlook (email and agenda), looking for literature, Comparing, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Google Chrome, WebEx and Adobe Acrobat. All employees that were interviewed used their computer for non work-related activities as well. G-mail and the Explorer were most frequently used for privately reasons. The main argument for using Internet and e-mail for private purposes was, that as they worked for the firm in their leisure time, it is found to be no problem to use the computer at work for private reasons. Employees made the following statements: “In itself, we have a job that also does not stop when you are at home and not at work, because they expect you to answer your email in the weekends. And so I do not find it unreasonable that it also works the other way around. As long as you just keep doing your

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job.” Two other employees stated almost the same: “Over the weekend I read my email from work at home” and “`Well, look, if for example I have to order ferry tickets than I will do it at my job, I mean those are incidental things which I think should be possible”.

Opinions about the billability of e-mail and Internet use differ. This varies from section to section and from employee to employee. The type of section the employees work in has an important impact on their opinions about problems they encounter with the use of E-mail, Internet and their billability. The reason behind this is the amount of cases that are worked on. When working on more cases it is found to be more difficult to bill time, this however also depends on the way time is registered. When working on big cases it is found to be disruptive when receiving many emails, as this decreases the ability to focus. One opinion is the following: “Well, what I have never done is registering my billable time by email, or per second. I just check, well I started at 9.00 AM this morning, and I have worked until six. That is nine hours. Of which nine hours I have had lunch for one hour, spilt one hour, and spend one hour getting internal things done, so there are six hours left. I have had this consultations, sent these emails and checked that case, and then I divide my time.” A second and different opinion is: “I just bill everything directly. When I am at the office I enter all my time immediately, when I’m outside the office and I come back to the office I check my time. I emailed for this case, for this case and for that case, and then you still know whether you were busy doing those things for six minutes of for half an hour. I handle many cases, when you work at the acquisition section you start at half pass eight and stop at six, seven or eight. But I was busy doing five cases this morning and held a job interview. If I do not directly write down my time I spill a lot of time. So, yes I work by billing every email and telephone call.”

There are a couple of activities that are suggested to being handed over to another person, such as: making appointments, printing, project management tasks and making closing binders. An associate stated the following about the amount of time it takes to make an appointment: “For example, are all of you available for this call at five o’clock, No? Well how about six? No? Well… That is terribly annoying.” Printing is also considered an issue: “Well, printing is certainly a big issue. I try to let my secretary handle as much of my printing activities as possible, and only when she is not there or if it is only one document I will do it myself. My office is near the printer so then I will run back and forth quickly. But, yes

printing can be improved as we are talking about efficiency, so if you have recommendations, please let me know.”

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Opportunities for improvement that were suggested are entering a field in an email which makes clear if the sender expects an immediate answer, or if the answer can wait. It would also be an improvement when it would be possible to control the timers via the Black Berry, when employees are not at work. So employees can work from home or even the airport and bill their time directly. Further more, it is suggested that there are problems with the suggestions that are given for filing E-mails, this should be optimized.

To conclude, an employee covered everything by stating: “I think we are all still searching for new regulations dealing with this relatively new communication tool. I mean, it has been an established communication tool for around 15 years, but we are still searching for regulations and ways of working with it.”

In the following section the results of the questionnaire will be presented.

5.2 Results explanatory part

In the following section the results of the survey will be presented, starting with the reliability test of the scales, followed by the descriptive statistics. Next, the hypotheses will be tested with the use of regression analyses.

5.2.1 Results from questions proposed by the firm

The firm added questions to the survey. Those questions could help to provide clearer and more extensive insights for the company, which could help them to improve their ICT systems, as well as for this specific research.

The first question was for respondents to define their definition of working efficiently. Only 12 respondents answered this question. The 12 definitions provided were all different, which shows the difficulty of defining efficiency as presented in section 2.1.1. The

definitions provided are the following: “me being able to carryout primary tasks for 70% of my time and the other 30% consisting of administrative burdens”, “having the right people do the right things at the right time in the right way with the best possible technical and human support”, “execute the task you want to execute with the least amount of resources (regardless whether it is effective)”, and “being able to work structured with the possibility to “turn of” all other things”. Other definitions focused on time are: “deliver the best work in the shortest time possible”, “deliver quality within a short time”, “ in the shortest timeframe possible”, “doing as much work as possible, at an acceptable quality level, within a short period of

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time”, “lose as little time possible on side issues, and perform as much activities as possible in the shortest time possible, with the highest quality kept in mind”, “get to the best results as quickly as possible”, and finally the last definition: “doing the optimal amount of work within a reasonable/ short amount of time, which still meets the highest standards of care and

accuracy”. So, we can conclude that all definitions are focused on time and quality. So, within this research the term efficiency, with regards to time billing professionals, will be presented both as: “the amount of registered billable time relative to the total amount of available working time” and “how efficient lawyers can work on cases without being interrupted by E-communication, Internet and administrative matters”.

Respondents also needed to set out the disadvantage they encounter when receiving many E-mails everyday. Many disadvantages were named, starting with receiving

unnecessary emails and receiving mails that are not for them. Other problems are that is distracts them from real work, it is time consuming and it creates problems with

concentrating. Also, there are to much nonsense mails (birth announcements), important E-mails are overshadowed, inbox becomes full and there are to many small E-E-mails. Those small E-mails are found to be more efficient than calling, however a chat-function with their secretary would be even better. It is also stated that sorting, processing and filing of emails and the filing of attachments cost a lot of time. Respondents are feeling as if they are at work 24/7, feel pressure and stress to answer quickly, feel as if they are always at work, and feeling as if they need to take time to have some rest and to think clearly. Disadvantage that come forward also concern the expectation of a quick response by the sender, to much time behind the computer leading to physical problems, physical discomfort, and finally it is stated that: “because we don’t use an IM system in the office the email is used for group discussions, which is making everyone’s inbox full”.

A third question included was which percentage of your working hours is worth your hourly rate, and which percentage is not. The results from this question can be found in table 5.2.1a. The question stated the other way around, “what percentage of your time is not worth your hourly rate”, shows the same findings. Table 5.2.1b shows the results that are found.

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Table 5.2.1a: Percentage of the employees' time that is worth their hourly rate

Respondents

Percentage of the employees' time that is worth their hourly rate

10% 30-50 %

20% 50-70%

50% 70-85%

20% 90%

Table 5.2.1b: Percentage of the employees' time that is not worth their hourly rate

Respondents

Percentage of the employees' time that is not worth their hourly rate 20% 10% or less 20% 10-20% 30% 20-30% 10% 30-40% 20% 50% or more

The final question asked what percentage of your work (that you do for clients)

consisting of, printing, filing, planning, internal consultation or other activities (to be included by the respondent), should: (1) not be done, (2), should be automated, (3) should be done by someone else, or (4) should be done by me. The activities that respondents entered themselves consisted of searching for literature, copying literature, saving documents, adjusting

documents, comparing and word processing. According to respondents all of these activities should be taken over by someone else. Tables 5.2.1c, 5.2.1d, 5.2.1e, 5.2.1f show the results that are found.

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Table 5.2.1c: what percentage of printing should: (1) not be done, (2), should be automated, (3) should be done by someone else, or (5) should be done by me

Printing: Percentage of time Percentage Respondents

0-20% 80%

20-40% 15%

Printing should not be done 40-60% 2,50%

60-80% 2,50%

80-100% -

0-20% 82,50%

20-40% 17,50%

Printing should be automated 40-60% -

60-80% -

80-100% -

0-20% 15%

20-40% 17,50%

Printing should be done by someone else 40-60% 20%

60-80% 12,50%

80-100% 35%

0-20% 77,50%

20-40% 2,50%

Printing should be done by me 40-60% 12,50%

60-80% 5%

80-100% 2,50%

Table 5.2.1d: what percentage of filing should: (1) not be done, (2), should be automated, (3) should be done by someone else, or (5) should be done by me

Filing: Percentage of time Percentage Respondents

0-20% 100%

20-40% -

Filing should not be done 40-60% -

60-80% -

80-100% -

0-20% 56,40%

20-40% 12,80%

Filing should be automated 40-60% 12,90%

60-80% 12,80%

80-100% 5,10%

0-20% 32,50%

20-40% 22,50%

Filing should be done by someone else 40-60% 25%

60-80% 12,50%

80-100% 7,50%

0-20% 67,50%

20-40% 7,50%

Filing should be done by me 40-60% 12,50%

60-80% 7,50%

80-100% 5%

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Table 5.2.1d: what percentage of planning should: (1) not be done, (2), should be automated, (3) should be done by someone else, or (5) should be done by me

Planning: Percentage of time Percentage Respondents

0-20% 100%

20-40% -

Planning should not be done 40-60% -

60-80% -

80-100% -

0-20% 92,50%

20-40% 2,50%

Planning should be automated 40-60% 5%

60-80% -

80-100% -

0-20% 12,80%

20-40% 18%

Planning should be done by someone else 40-60% 25,60%

60-80% 23,10%

80-100% 20,50%

0-20% 50%

20-40% 25%

Planning should be done by me 40-60% 15,00%

60-80% 22,50%

80-100% 7,50%

Table 5.2.1f: what percentage of consulting should: (1) not be done, (2), should be automated, (3) should be done by someone else, or (5) should be done by me

Consulting: Percentage of time Percentage Respondents

0-20% 95%

20-40% 2,50%

Consulting should not be done 40-60% 2,50%

60-80% -

80-100% -

0-20% 100%

20-40% -

Consulting should be automated 40-60% -

60-80% -

80-100% -

0-20% 95%

20-40% 2,50%

Consulting should be done by someone else 40-60% -

60-80% 1,25%

80-100% -

0-20% 12,50%

20-40% 2,50%

Consulting should be done by me 40-60% 5%

60-80% 22,50%

80-100% 57,50%

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5.2.2 Reliability of the scales

In this survey, scales of multiple items were used to measure efficient use of E-communication and Internet, job satisfaction, job involvement, conscientiousness and neuroticism. In order to be able to combine these different questions into one variable it is necessary to make sure that the internal consistency reliability of these three scales is controlled. This controlling can be done by determining the Cronbach’s alpha of all the different questions, and checking whether its value is 0.700 or higher (Field, 2009, p. 675; Beeks, 2012, p. 24).

The results of testing the Cronbach’s alpha’s can be found in Table 5.2.2. The first variable, efficient use of E-communication and Internet, which consists of six different questions, has a quite high Cronbach’s alpha (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.759).Job satisfaction, presented as the second variable, consists of three items. For all these different items together the Cronbach’s alpha lays around the 0.700 (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.704, job involvement consists of ten different items. For all these eight items combined the Cronbach’s alpha is higher than 0.700 (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.840) and no item had to be deleted.

Conscientiousness, which consists of twelve different questions, has a quite high Cronbach’s alpha (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.835). Neuroticism consists of twelve items. (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.872), no items were deleted. The last variable, the excessive use of E-communication and Internet, consisted of 5 items, 4 items were deleted to create the highest alpha possible (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.592). This alpha is a poor to questionable.

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Table 5.2.2: Cronbach's alpha, mean and standard deviations

Cronbach's alpha N Minimum Maximum M SD Efficient

E-communication and Internet use

0,759 40 2 3,744 3,258 0,593 Job Satisfaction 0,704 40 2 5 4,292 0,663 Job involvement 0,840 40 2,4 4,9 3,445 0,527 Conscientiousne ss 0,835 40 2,92 4,92 4,073 0,466 Neuroticism 0,872 40 1,23 3,92 2,414 0,572 Excessive use 0,592 40 2 5 3,635 0,592 5.2.3 Descriptive statistics

In total there are 40 respondents who completely finished the survey. Therefore the total sample size resulted in N = 40. The sample characteristics can be found in Table 5.2.3a.

The correlations are presented in table 5.2.3b. There are no significant correlations between efficient communication and Internet use and the independent variables. There is a negative significant relationship between Excessive use of E-communication and Internet and Efficient use of E-communication and Internet (r = -0.421, p < 0.01). There is a positive significant relationship between job satisfaction and the variables job involvement, conscientiousness, and a negative significant relationship between job satisfaction and neuroticism (r = 0.590, p < 0.01; r = 372, p < 0.05; r = -0.435, p < 0.01). There are also significant positive relationships between job involvement and conscientiousness, and job involvement and excessive use of E-communication and Internet (r = 0.525, p < 0.01; r = 0.371, p < 0.05). Gender and neuroticism have a positively significant correlation (r = 0.385, p < 0.05) and age and neuroticism are negatively significant related (r = -0.360, p < 0.05).

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Table 5.2.3a: Sample characteristics Total (N=40) Freq. in% Gender Male 22 55,00% Female 18 45,00% Sector C&R 4 7,50% Corporate 1 17,50% Trainee practice 8 7,50% EEB 10 7,50% Finance 13 5,00% IMG 13 5,00% L&A 21 37,50% Differtly 17 13%

Min Mean Max

Age 24 34,58 60

Work experience 1 10,98 42

Work experience at the

company 1 8,53 41

Cronbach's alpha Min Max M SD

Efficient E-commuincation

and Internet use 0,759 2 3,744 3,258 0,593

Job satisfaction 0,704 2 5 4,292 0,663 Job involvement 0,84 2,4 4,9 3,445 0,527 Conscientiousness 0,835 2,92 4,92 4,073 0,466 Neuroticism 0,872 1,23 3,92 2,414 0,572 Excessive use 0,592 1,6 5 3,57 0,702 29

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Table 5.2.3b: Correlations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 1. Efficient E-communication and Internet use

- 2. Job satisfaction .061 .710 - 3. Job involvement .056 .731 .590** .000 - 4. Conscientiousness .264 .100 .372* .018 ,525** .000 - 5. Neuroticism -.072 .659 -.435** .005 -.212 .189 -.138 .396 - 6. Gender -.,027 .868 .211 .191 .211 .190 .039 .813 .385* .014 - 7. Age .076 .641 .286 .074 .186 .250 .150 .357 -.360* .022 -.215 .183 - 8.Work experience .040 .809 -.225 .163 .113 .486 .073 .656 -.295 .065 -,175 .280 .977** .000 - 9. Work experience at the company .027 .870 .223 .167 .254 .114 .186 .250 -.400* .010 -.301 .059 .906** .000 .881 .000 - 10. Section .266 .097 -.106 .514 -.310 .052 -.092 .574 -.029 .859 -.122 .452 -.150 .355 -.177 .274 -.199 .219 - 11. Excessive use -.421** .007 .252 .117 .371* .018 -.135 .407 -.149 .360 -.003 .987 .035 .832 .016 .920 .085 .601 -.255 .112 - *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

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5.2.4 Regression analysis

In the model presented in paragraph 3 demographics, job satisfaction, job involvement, conscientiousness and neuroticism were proposed as antecedents of efficient

E-communication and Internet use. Excessive use of E-E-communication and Internet were also proposed as antecedents of efficient E-communication and Internet use.

To analyze whether the data provide support for this presented hypotheses, regression analyses are used. However, the correlations presented in paragraph 5.3 already showed that are no significant relationships between the demographics, job satisfaction, job involvement, conscientiousness and neuroticism, and the efficient use of E-communication and Internet. There is however a relationship between the excessive use of E-communication of Internet and the efficient use of E-communication and Internet.

None of the demographic variable had a significant relation with efficient use of E-communication and Internet: Gender (B = -0.032, p > 0.05), Age (B = 0.004, p > 0.05), Work experience (B = 0.002, p > 0.05), Work experience at the company (B = 0.002 p > 0.05, and Section (B = 0.056, p > 0.05). Hypothesis 1 stated that specific demographic characteristics (gender, age, overall work experience, work experience at the company, section) are

antecedents for efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers. From the regression analysis we can conclude that hypothesis 1 is not supported.

There is no significant regression result between job satisfaction, job involvement, conscientiousness and neuroticism, and efficient use of E-communication and Internet (B = 0.054, p > 0.05; B = 0.063, p > 0.05; B = 0.336, p > 0.05; B = -0.075, p > 0.05). Hypothesis 2 proposed that employee attitudes are antecedents for efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers. In hypothesis 2a it was stated that job involvement has a positive effect on efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers, and in hypothesis 2b it was stated that job satisfaction has a positive effect on efficient E-communication and Internet use by

lawyers. From the regression analysis we can conclude that hypothesis 2, 2a and 2b, is not supported. Hypothesis 3 stated that specific personality traits are antecedents for efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers. In hypothesis 3a it was stated that

Conscientiousness has a positive effect on efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers, and in hypothesis 3b it was stated that neuroticism has a negative effect on efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers. From the regression analysis we can conclude that hypothesis 3, 3a and 3b, is not supported.

There is a negative significant relationship between the excessive use of

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communication and Internet and the efficient use of Ecommunication and Internet (B = -0.421, p < 0.01). Hypothesis 4 stated that excessive use of E-communication and the Internet has a negative impact on the efficiency of Lawyers. From the regression analysis we can conclude that hypothesis 4 is supported.

Table 5.2.4: Results regression analysis

(Dependent variable: Efficient use of E-communication and Internet; Independent variable: Demographics, Jon satisfsction, Job involvement, conscientiousness, neuroticism and excessive use Model Efficient use of E-communication and Internet (N = 40) B Sig. R2 (Constant) 3.305 .000 Gender -.032 .868 .001 (Constant) 3.106 .000 Age 0.004 .641 .006 (Constant) 3.235 .000 Work experience .002 .809 .002 (Constant) 3.245 .000

Work experience at the company .002 .870 .001

(Constant) 2.956 .000 Section .056 .097 .071 (Constant) 3.026 0.000 Job satisfaction .054 .710 .004 (Constant) 3.041 .000 Job involvement .063 .731 .003 (Constant) .892 .026 Conscientiousness .336 .264 .100 (Constant) 3.438 .000 Neuroticism -.075 .659 .005 (Constant) 4.790 .0000 Excessive use -.421 .007 .177 32

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6 Discussion

In paragraph 5 the results from the database research, the interviews and the survey were discussed. In this paragraph the results will be interpreted and their implications will be set out, with the use of the literature used in the literature review. Finally the practical

implications and the limitations will be presented.

6.1 Test of hypotheses

This research has focused on the relationships between demographic variables, job satisfaction, job involvement, conscientiousness, neuroticism and extensive use of

E-communication and Internet, and efficient use of E-E-communication and Internet. There were four hypotheses set out. The first stated that specific demographic characteristics (gender, age, overall work experience, work experience at the company, section) are antecedents for

efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers. Hypotheses 2a and 2b stated that employee attitudes (job involvement and job satisfaction) are antecedents for efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers. Hypotheses 3a and 3b stated that specific personality traits (conscientiousness and neuroticism) are antecedents for efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers. Finally, hypothesis 4 stated that the excessive use of E-communication and the Internet has a negative impact on the efficiency of Lawyers. Prior research has indicted that there is a relationship between these variables.

Theory, from the cyberslacking model, which is used as a basis for this research indicated that demographic antecedents, such as gender and age are related to cyberslacking (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Vitak et al., 2010). According to Garret and Danziger (2008), men are more prone to cyberslacking than women and young men are more prone than old men to engagement in cyberslacking. Research has found that the higher the job involvement of employees, the lower the intention of employees to invest time in cyberslacking behavior (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Libermann et al., 2011). Studies have also demonstrated that the higher the job satisfaction of employees the lower the intention of employees to invest time in cyberslacking behavior (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Libermann et al., 2011). Research has also found that an employee who has a high score on conscientiousness has a lower intention to invest time in cyberslacking behavior (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Libermann et al., 2011). An employee who has a high score on neuroticism also has a higher intention to invest time in cyberslacking behaviour (Garret & Danziger, 2008; Libermann et al., 2011). Finally, the findings of cyberslacking research in combination with the profession of lawyers show that it

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can be argued that the use of E-communication and Internet is one of the reasons behind the decreasing efficiency of lawyers. So, cyberslacking was used as a research model for the effect of E-communication and Internet use on the efficiency of Lawyers.

The results of this research surprisingly indicate that there is no profound relationship between the demographic variables, job satisfaction, job involvement, conscientiousness, neuroticism and efficient use of E-communication and Internet. There is, however, a relationship between the excessive use of E-communication and the Internet and the

efficiency of Lawyers.

6.2 Limitations

A first limitation is the small group of respondents, 40 respondents, who participated in the study. One of the reasons behind the rejection of hypotheses 1, 2a, 2b, 3a and 3c can possibly be the small amount of respondents. This case study consists of a relatively small sample size. The bigger the respondents sample the more reliable the outcomes. This could be improved by doing a multiple case study research, to increase the amount of respondents. However other results indicate that the findings are in line with extant research. There are significant positive relationships between job involvement and conscientiousness, and gender and neuroticism and a significant negative relationship between age and neuroticism. These findings are inline with prior research.

Secondly, a limitation that should be taken in to account is the possibility of moderators. Within this research no moderators were included. It is however plausible that there are moderator variables which influence the relationships between specific demographic characteristics (gender, age, overall work experience, work experience at the company, section), job involvement, job satisfaction, conscientiousness, neuroticism and the efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers. This can be the case because there are no direct relationships found, which can indicate that there are other variables influencing the

relationship. More research needs to be done in order to find out if there are moderators influencing the relationships between these variables.

6.3 Managerial implications

The most important reason behind this research was to increase the companies’ insight in the use of E-communication and Internet, the consequences, and the implications. A case study

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set-up was used. The main point of the research is the investigation of the increased percentage of non-billable hours in relation to efficient use of E-communication and the Internet by Lawyers, and the antecedents of the efficient use of E-communication and the Internet.

The Internet has become the standard for many organizations and their employees. Employees rely heavily on the use of Internet and e-communication for their daily work activities (Blanchard & Henle, 2008; Eivazi, 2011). The Internet has brought organizations benefits such as the increased access to and distribution of information and effective

communication within the organization or with clients. However this same constant access to Internet has also brought about other negative consequences, inefficiency, disturbance, non-billable work, or use of Internet provided by the organization for personal use (Lim, 2002). Companies must find ways to deal with these consequences and to decrease their impact on the daily work of Lawyers.

This research shows the percentage of non-billable hours has increased over time, for all departments. The problems with the billability of hours, according to the respondents, depend on the section (the amount of cases that is worked on everyday) and on the hour registration method that is used. The overall opinion of respondents is that the use of Internet can be seen as an advantage. There are however many disadvantages mentioned by the respondents, such as: receiving unnecessary e-mails, receiving e-mails that are not for them, having a full inbox and the overshadowing of important e-mails. Employees are being distracted and have problems concentrating. Respondents are feeling as if they are at work 24/7, feel pressure and stress to answer quickly, feel as they are always at work, and feeling like they need to take time to have some rest and to think clearly. Disadvantages also concern the expectation of a quick response by the sender, confusion, and too much time behind the computer leading to physical problems or discomfort. Companies need to use these findings by making internal regulations with regards to sending internal emails, looking at the real necessity of these emails, in order to decrease the amount of unnecessary internal emails. An opportunity for improvement that was suggested was the adding of a reply expectation field within an e-mail. A second improvement would be the option of controlling the timers via the employees Black Berry. It is also stated that the sorting, processing and filing of emails and the filing of attachments cost a lot of time. Companies should optimize their systems for filing and offer training programs, as it seems to be a time consuming activity that is not understood by everyone. Finally, some conclusions can be made about printing activities, literature searching, word processing and documents saving, adjusting and comparing. Respondents

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agree that these are time-consuming activities that, most of the time, should be done by somebody else. Companies should offer the possibility to hand over these activities. This will save the employee time and increase their opportunity to work on cases. Which, in the end, will increase their efficiency.

There are no relations between specific demographic characteristics (gender, age, overall work experience, work experience at the company, section), job involvement, job satisfaction, conscientiousness, neuroticism and the efficient E-communication and Internet use by lawyers. However, there is a relationship between the extensive use of

E-communication and the Internet, and the efficient use of E-E-communication and the Internet by lawyers. A reason behind this relationship may be the distraction that is caused by the

excessive use of E-communication and the Internet. This reason was also indicated in the Interviews and questionnaires. Consequences of this distraction are that employees are being interrupted from the case they are working on, which makes that they need more time to read back into the case. Another reason behind this relationship can be the highly demanding nature of E-communication and Internet. The expectation of direct response on e-mails by clients and colleagues requires a lot of attention from employees, which leaves them with less time for their cases. This shows that companies can gain advantages from investing in

systems and regulations. Such as, optimizing e-mail, filing and timer programs and setting up regulations for sending internal e-mails. This can improve the work of Lawyers and most importantly, increase their efficiency.

6.4 Future research

A positive correlation was found between the excessive use of E-communication and the Internet and Job involvement. A regression analysis shows a positive significant relationship between these 2 variables, which indicates that high job involvement increases the extensive use of E-communication and the Internet. This would lead us to suggest that high job involvement of an employee leads to higher excessive use of E-communication and Internet, which in its turn leads to less efficient use of E-communications and the Internet. A reason behind this relationship may be that high job involvement leads employees to being busy with work 24 hours a day, and the more they get absorbed in their work the less time of they have. This can lead to being less focused or being less accurate, which will in its turn increase the inefficiency of E-communication and Internet use. Mediators such as experience, function or

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age could have an impact on this relationship. This suggested relationship is a good starting point for future research.

6.5 Conclusion

This research has increased the amount of research on the performance of time billing professionals and has given rise to new insights into the efficiency of these professionals.

Despite of the fact that not al hypothesis were supported the results of this research can be of importance for managers and law firms as a whole. The relationship found between the excessive use of E-communication and the Internet and the efficiency of lawyers can lead us to conclude that professional services companies can gain advantages from (1) optimizing systems with regard to E-communication, and from (2) setting regulations with regard to internal E-communication. For example an optimized system for filing, and regulations for sending cc’s or E-mails with unwanted information such as birth announcements. These actions will lead to increased efficient use of E-communication and the Internet by time billing professionals, and will lead to positive outcomes for the entire company.

“E-communication, Internet use and the efficiency of time billing professionals”.