Enterprise social media affordances:
How perceived IT affordances differ between use behavior groups
University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business
MSc Business Administration: Change Management
Submitted by: G. Folkert van der Veen
S3536955
Supervisor: dr. I. Maris-de Bresser Co-assessor: dr. H.C. Bruns
2 ABSTRACT
Social media is widely adopted towards business purposes, however research on post-adoptive use of social media within organizations is still in its infancy. This study aimed to examine how different types of user behavior observed in post-adoptive use differ in how they perceive the affordances of an enterprise social media (ESM). For this purpose, a case study at an oil and gas production company using eighteen interviews, documents analysis, and observations of the system and its content were applied in order to identify and compare the goals, features, and affordances of three user behavior groups: enthusiastic activists, pragmatic conformists, and skeptical shunners. Goals and features are taken into account since IT affordances are a relational product of the material features that the technology offers combined with the goals of an individual. The following six affordances were identified: aggregation of information, association, cross-sharing of knowledge, environmental scanning, persistence, and visibility. The study confirmed that perceived ESM affordance did differ between user groups, with the largest difference being between non- and active users of the system. As skeptical nonusers perceived fewer and less detailed affordances, pragmatic and enthusiastic users shared most goals, features and perceived affordances. Furthermore, the findings showed that most users were passive participants, and it proposes this is a result of the use being voluntary. Moreover, this study proposes that a higher frequency of interaction with the platform may result in more goals with and knowledge of the features of an ESM. Lastly, the findings suggest that less knowledge of features and goals result in the user perceiving less affordance.
3 TABLE OF CONTENT ABSTRACT ... 2 TABLE OF CONTENT ... 3 INTRODUCTION ... 4 LITERATURE REVIEW ... 6
Enterprise social media ... 6
Affordance lens ... 8
ESM Affordances ... 11
Use behavior ... 13
Use behavior and IT affordance: Towards a conceptual model ... 13
METHODS ... 15
Research approach: qualitative case study ... 15
Case description ... 16 Data collection ... 17 Analytical strategy ... 20 RESULTS ... 22 User groups ... 22 Skeptical shunners ... 23 Pragmatic conformists ... 25 Enthusiastic activists ... 33
Comparison of insights across user groups ... 35
DISCUSSION ... 37
Theoretical Contributions ... 39
Limitations and future research ... 40
Conclusions ... 41
REFERENCES ... 42
APPENDIX A INTERVIEW PROTOCOLS ... 50
APPENDIX B OBSERVATION SCHEME ... 58
APPENDIX C OVERVIEW DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ... 59
APPENDIX D CODEBOOK ... 60
APPENDIX E OBSERVATION OF SYSTEM FEATURES ... 72
APPENDIX F OVERVIEW FINDINGS ... 75
4
INTRODUCTION
Social media technologies, including wikis, social networking sites, social tagging, and microblogging have become widely and globally adopted (Treem & Leonardi, 2012). Three billion people use social media in their personal life (Organami, 2018). Organizations try to follow this trend of adopting social media by implementing the technology for business purposes. Social media refers to a group of web-based technologies allowing users to easily create, edit, evaluate, and link content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Majchrzak, Faraj, Kane, & Azad, 2013). What differentiates social media from traditional communicative technology is that social interactions are observable to non-direct communication partners. Content is broadcast organization-wide, rather than merely traveling between specific users (Leonardi, Huysman, & Steinfield, 2013). Additionally, social media allow users to craft (semi) public profiles on the platform and create a list of users they are connected with (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Due to a technological feature of letting any participant join and add content at any time or place, this adoption was predicted to result in the unprecedented transformation of the adopting companies (Leonardi et al., 2013).
Reasons for implementing social media are aimed at either external or internal communication (Johannsen, 2018). The reason for external use is the communication with external parties across multiple public platforms are company branding, advertisement, public relations, content delivery, customer service and product development (Culnan, Mchugh, & Zubillaga, 2010). Internal use of social media, also known as enterprise social media (ESM), is applied to benefit the association of new hires, knowledge sharing, and for employees to build relationships and social capital (Leidner, Gonzalez, & Koch, 2018; Leonardi et al., 2013). ESM can be defined as social media platforms used within organizations that allow employees to: broadcast messages to coworkers throughout the organization; reveal particular coworkers as communication partners; post, edit, and sort content; and view the messages, connections, text, and files communicated, posted, edited and sorted by anyone else in the organization at any time of their choosing (Leonardi et al., 2013; Leonardi & Vaast, 2017).
5
organizations. However, research of internal use of social media is of equal importance, as Leonardi et al. (2013) argue. Secondly, prior research mostly took a holistic perspective on ESM. This paper considers technology as a set of features, enriching the underrepresented and more detailed feature based literature on ESM. Thirdly, research on social media in an organizational context is largely based on initial adoption, often overlooking the equally important and longer period of post-adoption (Bala, Massey, & Hsieh, 2016). Fourthly, Huang, Baptista & Newell (2015) call for research on how internal social media is shaped by and is shaping the day-to-day taken-for-granted practices that it enables. Although Leonardi (2011) sheds light on this relationship through the metaphor of imbrication, it does not focus on different types of user behavior.
To fill in these research gaps, this paper views the post-adoptive use of ESM through the lens of technological constructivism by viewing the relationship between user and technology as one of affordance (Faraj & Bijan, 2013; Hutchby, 2001; Treem & Leonardi, 2012). IT affordances are properties of the relationship between agents and objects that results in the potential for actions and can be defined as: “the possibilities for goal-oriented action afforded to specific user groups by technical objects” (Cheikh-Ammar, 2018; Faraj & Bijan, 2013; Hutchby, 2001; Leonardi, 2011; Markus & Silver, 2008, p622; Stoffregen, 2003). These affordances are based on the unique perception of an individual, on how the features of the technology can be used towards their goals. Taking both the uniform features a system offers its users and the individual goals towards which the ESM can be used into account provides a more detailed and personal perspective on post-adoptive use behavior of ESM.
One unexplored aspect in the theory of post-adoptive use of ESM is how perceived IT affordances differ between individuals due to varying use behavior. Therefore, the aim of this study is to obtain an understanding about how different types of use behaviors observed during post-adoptive use might perceive different affordances of the ESM. To address this, insights into the perceived affordances of each user group must be gathered. To do so requires gaining an understanding of both the material features known by each group as well as the goals towards which the ESM is used, the concepts that jointly shape affordances. The research question guiding this study is:
“How do perceived IT affordances differ between user behavior groups?”
6
IT affordances differ per user group sheds light on how the use of their costly investment into ESM is not solely influenced by the features of their purchase, but also by the affordances perceived by its users. These insights can help managers to promote the use of ESM, potentially increasing their efficiency and effectiveness by better understanding the user behavior and ways to increase use.
The present study applies a case study approach using multiple qualitative data gathering and analytical techniques to answer this research question, including interviews, document analysis, and observations of the system and its content. The research case is a large company in the oil and gas industry with an established ESM system and user base, the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM). The NAM adopted Yammer, a microblogging-web service provided by Microsoft, to increase knowledge sharing and communication. It has been observed that employees at NAM use Yammer in a variety of ways and towards differing ends, providing an opportunity to study the differences between user behavior groups.
The remaining paper is structured as follows. The next section provides the theoretical background of IT affordance and use behavior, concluding with a conceptual model of how the two concepts relate. Thereafter, the section presenting the methods used to collect and analyze the data. Next, the paper presents the research findings. The final section provides a discussion of the results, limitations of the study, suggestions for future research and closes with the study‟s conclusion.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Enterprise social media
Social media, in general, refer to a group of web 2.0 based technologies allowing users to easily create, edit, evaluate, or link to content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Majchrzak et al., 2013). The broad interest in adopting social media for business purposes has been translated into a wide literary landscape of varying topics. For example, research has been done on how to use it for managing public perception (Benthaus, Risius, & Beck, 2016) and monitoring social media to gain insights into potential customers (Culnan et al., 2010).
7
accessing digital content. Both reportedly impact employee performance and user behavior (Kane, 2015).
Firstly, research on ESM use for social networking. ESM is applied to increase the visibility of informal relationships within organizations and support cross-functional collaboration. This has proven to improve employee productivity by intensification of interactions (Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, & Kraimer, 2001), onboarding and socialization of employees (Gonzalez, Leidner, & Koch, 2015) and the generation of internal and external relationships (Farzan et al., 2008; Karoui, Dudezert, & Leidner, 2015; Majchrzak et al., 2009). ESM has also been found to create a capability of communicational ambidexterity (Huang et al., 2015), be a symbolic capital to be governed by employees (Karoui et al., 2015) and directly influence employee performance through facilitation connection within teams which can also result in employee innovation (Kuegler et al., 2015).
Secondly, ESM has been studied from the perspective of knowledge sharing and management because it affording access to digital content (Archer-Brown & Kietzmann, 2018). ESM can facilitate the creation of virtual communicates of users whose relationships are strengthened through information and knowledge transfers (Chen & Kuo, 2017). Wikis, for example, have proven to be beneficial for improving organizational processes, collaboration and knowledge reuse (Majchrzak, Wagner, & Yates, 2006).
As shown above, prior research mainly focused on the effect that ESM has on an organization. It pays little attention to the origin of these effects, let alone how the user‟s perception of the system influences these outcomes. As a result, academic and practitioners have a limited understanding of how and why users use an ESM in the way they do.
8
Affordance lens
The affordance perspective stems from Gibson‟s (1986) work on the psychology of perspectives derived from eco-psychology, defining it as a dynamic interaction between people and materiality of environments (Hutchby, 2001). As stated by Gibson (1986, p127): “The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill”, implying the complementarity of the animal and the environment. The concept of affordance shows that an animal perceives not the object by itself, but rather as what it affords it to do. An example provided by Gibson (1986) is a nearly flat, ridged and horizontal surface of sufficient size which could afford an animal support to stand, sit or lay on. However, the perceived affordances of this area differ between animals. Water bugs might need a different environment to perceive the same affordance, due to their differing goals of living on the water rather than on land.
Later, the affordance perspective was further developed. Three conclusions from prior research are important to consider when applying the affordance lens. First, the functional aspect: affordances either enable or constrain activities. Secondly, affordances are relational rather than inherent to either the animal or the feature or the object (Hutchby, 2001; Stoffregen, 2003; Volkoff, 2013). In contrast to the uniform features objects offer all individuals, the affordances and constraints depend on the unique characteristics of the user and the materiality of the object (Djerf-Pierre, Ghersetti, & Hedman, 2016; Faraj & Bijan, 2013). Thirdly, affordances are a possibility for action (Stoffregen, 2003). An affordance does not need to be put into action to exist. Therefore, affordances can be actualized as well as perceived (Hutchby, 2001; Strong et al., 2014).
This perspective can be used to research the relationship between IT, in this case ESM, and its users. In that case, affordance perspective views a technology beyond its features alone, by relating the features to the user‟s intent and purpose of use which provide the action potential the technology affords a user (Gibson, 1986; Nambisan, Lyytinen, Majchrzak, & Song, 2017; Treem & Leonardi, 2012). As such, Markus and Silver (2008, p622) define IT affordance as “the possibilities for goal-oriented action afforded to specific user groups by technical objects”. The next two sections elaborate on the concepts of IT features and individual goals to shed more light on how affordances come about.
IT Features.
9
1999). Features differ in their capabilities and effect on users, such as differing in criticality to the system. Some features are tangential while others are core to the technology; when removed they change the overall nature of the technology, while tangential features are less linked to what defines a technology. Tangibility varies and is a continuum ranging from concrete directly describable features to abstract not easily defined features (Cheikh-Ammar, 2018; Griffith, 1999; Griffith & Northcraft, 1994; Jasperson et al. 2005).
This concept of features is used within post-adoptive IT research because after adoption users actively learn about the existence, nature and potential usefulness of the applications. By viewing the system in terms of features the researcher can focus in on which features are recognized and used over time, granting more detailed analysis than a holistic perspective affords (DeSanctis & Poole, 1994; Goodhue, 1995; Goodhue & Thompson, 1995; Griffith, 1999; Jasperson, Carter, & Zmud, 2005; Tyre & Orlikowski, 1994). IT features are central to shaping the variety of possible outcomes of the use of technology, which may or may not be identified, recognized and interpreted by users (Cheikh-Ammar, 2018; Griffith, 1999). The awareness and potential usefulness of the application's features arise over time (Cheikh-Ammar, 2018; Jasperson et al., 2005).
Jasperson et al.‟s (2005) research used this feature level perspective to research factors influencing post-adoptive behavior. It concluded that, on an individual level, post-adoptive behavior is influenced by two processes. Firstly, by individual reflection on preexisting cognition and the processing of surrounding informational cues on IT features which modifies their post-adoptive intentions, which in turn influence post-adoptive, post-adoptive intentions being dependent on the knowledge of how to use IT features and how they complement the other work system elements (Swanson, 1974). Secondly, post-adoptive behaviors are directly influenced by prior use behavior behaviors (Jasperson et al., 2005; Langer, 1989; Langer, Blank, & Chanowitz, 1978; Langer & Piper, 1987; Louis & Sutton, 1991).
10
mentioned above, affordances coming about as a result of a combination of characteristics of the technology and individual goals. The next section elaborates on these individual goals.
Individual goals.
The origin of individual goals and the selection of these intentions to act upon are a black box. Individual goals do persist when not being acted on and an individual can perceive a situation to be unsatisfactory for the actualization of their goals and seek out conditions in which they can (Stoffregen, 2003).
Goals can also be focused on fulfilling the psychological needs of the user. Social media use is theorized to happen if the platform is seen as affording fulfillment of these goals. Users have a need for autonomy, relatedness, competence, having a place and self-identification (Karahanna, Xu, Xu, & Zhang, 2018). Autonomy describes an individual‟s innate psychological need to be a causal agent of the path they take in their own life by engaging voluntarily in an activity not because it is perceived as mandatory by social pressure, norms or other obligation (Deci, 1995; Deci & Ryan, 1990; Karahanna et al., 2018). Relatedness is the psychological need to interact, connect and experience caring for others (Deci & Ryan, 1990; Karahanna et al., 2018). Competence is the need of an individual to be effective in dealing with its environment like affecting it, itself and others and to achieve a valued outcome (Bauer & McAdams, 2000; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Karahanna et al., 2018). Self-identity needs are divided into the need for definition, the need to express this self-identity and maintaining continuity of self-self-identity by maintaining an emotional connection between the self and the past (Karahanna et al., 2018; Pierce, Kostova, & Dirks, 2003). Lastly, Kuegler et al. (2015) suggest that an individual‟s hedonic goals could also be at play during ESM use. Because social media is typically associated with pleasure and fun, enjoyment should also be taken into account as a motivation for ESM use (Bala et al., 2016).
11
ESM Affordances
Following a literature review, Treem and Leonardi (2012) have identified four main affordances of social media. These affordances, described below, are the starting point of this study on how the affordances of social media influence and are influenced by the use behaviors.
Firstly, ESM affords the visibility of behaviors, (meta-)knowledge, preferences, organizational activity streams and communication network connections in the organization (Treem & Leonardi, 2012), including sharing results and company news across organizational boundaries (Farrell & Kellogg, 2008; Treem & Leonardi, 2012; Zhang, Qu, Cody, & Pitney, 2010; Zhao & Rosson, 2009). Increasing the likelihood of employees accessing information by reducing the effort needed (Brown & Duguid, 2001; Treem & Leonardi, 2012) and by employees not seeking knowledge if not aware it exists (Fulk & Yuan, 2013). Meta-knowledge provided to users makes the backgrounds, interests, and activities of other users visible (Shami, Ehrlich, Gay, & Hancock, 2009; Steinfield, DiMicco, Ellison, & Lampe, 2009). ESM provides insights into what is going on in other users‟ minds and helps maintain relationships with people outside their daily life (Zhao & Rosson, 2009). Besides affording the broadcasting of the status of activities, the two-way communication of ESM affords the reader to respond, allowing the poster to track the perception of content posted (Zhao & Rosson, 2009) and gain input to identify popular content (Treem & Leonardi, 2012; Yardi, Golder, & Brzozowski, 2009).
12
2008; Treem & Leonardi, 2012) afford storing personal information (Grudin & Poole, 2010) or gathering information originating from outside the organization (Huh et al., 2007; Treem & Leonardi, 2012).
Editability affords drafting, crafting and recrafting of communication before it is viewed by others (Treem & Leonardi, 2012; Walther, 1993), affording users to send what is exactly intended (Dennis, Fuller, & Valacich, 2008) and modify already communicated content (Rice, 1987; Treem & Leonardi, 2012), the latter affording the appropriation of the message to the context over time (Dennis et al., 2008; Treem & Leonardi, 2012). Editability allows manipulation of the way personal information is shared with others (Treem & Leonardi, 2012), for instance the amount of personal information shared on the users' profiles (Farzan et al., 2008). Besides the widespread publication it affords, ESM allows control over who views the content by targeting a specific audience (Giordano, 2007; Holtzblatt, Damianos, & Weiss, 2010; Treem & Leonardi, 2012). Lastly, it affords retroactively increasing the information quality by allowing correcting or updating content over time. This may lead to an increase in collaboration and increased value of the end product (Treem & Leonardi, 2012).
13
Use behavior
Prior research divides IT use behavior in three stages: pre-adoption, adoption, and post-adoption. Most research on IT use is focused on individuals‟ pre-adoption behavior, the adoption decision, and initial use behaviors (Benlian, 2015). However, during this stage behaviors cannot be observed and affordances can only be determined by questioning the potential users. In the post-adoption stage, behavior is observable. Therefore, this research mainly focuses on post-adoptive behavior to shed light on how perceived affordances differ between user groups.
Hedman‟s and Djerf-Pierre (2013) research on post-adoptive use of social media by journalists defined three categories of social media use behavior. The first category is enthusiastic activists, those that lead a social media intensive lifestyle. They use social media beyond its basic and average application of their peers. The second category is pragmatic conformists. They are selective and judicious in their use, mostly reading content rather than posting on the social media themselves. Their attitude is ambivalent due to the perceived opportunities the technology grants and their skepticism towards the hype generated by activist users. Lastly, there are skeptical shunners that avoid the use of social media altogether (Hedman & Djerf-Pierre, 2013). These categories are used to identify and compare use behaviors during this study.
Another perspective on use behavior is related to the user's contributions to the system. Majchrzak et al.‟s (2006) study on corporate wiki divides users into two behaviors: synthesizers and adders. Adders contribute content to the ESM, while synthesizers compile and compose the already added data. A low value in both behaviors is called a minimalist user, while high in both are called multiplexers. Users can also be a part of the system and not contribute content directly. The qualitative study of Filstad et al. (2018) on the use of ESM for crossing knowledge boundaries found that while a number of employees recognized some benefit in using the ESM for knowledge sharing and discussion, few besides the regular users actively participated and contributed to discussions. Most users were passive participants, viewing and not participating. The next section relates the concept of use behavior with that of IT affordance.
Use behavior and IT affordance: Towards a conceptual model
14
The relationship between perceived affordances and use behavior is two-directional. Firstly, perceived affordance can increase the use of technology. For example, employees are less likely to willingly use new technology when they are not aware of possible improvements it offers (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008). Secondly, the perceived affordance is also dependent on recurring human interaction (Erickson & Kellogg, 2000). This is because of the process of the imbrication of human and technological agencies creating routines to carry out the work, upon which people construct perceived affordances of technology to achieve goals. In use, a user may realize new intentions that could be achieved through these material features (Leonardi, 2011).
Unfortunately, this relationship has been limitedly researched. While Majchrzak et al. (2006) showed that perceived usefulness encouraged users to contribute to a corporate wiki, they did not consider if this change in use behavior was due to a differing perceived affordance. Also, the research of Jasperson et al. (2005) conceptualized a relationship in which post-adoptive behaviors are dependent on post-adoptive intentions that are in turn dependent on the use history and individual cognition. Although these post-adoptive intentions of use are somewhat similar to affordance, they do not consider the relational aspect between both features and the full range of goals of the user (Conner & Armitage, 1998; Jasperson et al., 2005; Quellette & Wood, 1998).
Goals of the individual Organizational Goals
Knowledge sharing Creating virtual communities Organization wide collaboration
Individual Goals Autonomy Relatedness Competence Having a place Self-identification Use behavior Enthusiastic Activists Pragmatic conformists Skeptical shunners Association Visibility Persistence Editability
Perceived affordances Technological characteristics of ESM Technological features P e rc e p ti o n Im b ri ca ti o n
15
The conceptual model depicted in Figure 1 illustrates how the concepts of this research are related, based on the theory of IT affordance. As displayed, IT affordances are relational outcomes of characteristics of the system and the individual. IT features are the technological characteristics of the ESM that, combined with individual goals, result in perceived affordances. The goals of the individual are either on an individual or an organizational level. Individual goals include autonomy, relatedness, competence, having a place and self-identification. Organizational goals are categorized as knowledge sharing, creating virtual communities, organization-wide collaboration. These organizational and individual level goals can be related or unrelated to each other.
The resulting affordances can be divided into four categories of internal social media, namely visibility, editability, persistence, and association. Also, the two-fold relationship between these affordances and use behavior are displayed. Firstly, use behavior influences perceived affordances through the process of imbrication during which new affordances and intentions are revealed. Secondly, the differing perceived affordances influence the perception of the different use behavior groups. User behavior is divided into enthusiastic activists, pragmatic conformist and skeptical shunners. The next section discusses the methodology applied during this research.
METHODS
Research approach: qualitative case study
16
A holistic case study was used to ensure as much detail as possible without diluting the level of detail (Creswell, 2017; Wolcott, 2008; Yin, 2012). The case describes common and everyday use of ESM at different departments at NAM, providing a representative and typical case of ESM use. The data gathering and analysis took place on group- and individual-level, to provide plenty of detail on the use of ESM within the case. Each level utilized different methods of data gathering. While the group level applied document analysis and observations, interviews were used on the individual level. This chapter will continue by describing the case followed by an elaboration on the methods of interviewing, observing and analyzing.
Case description
The research was conducted at a joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil called NAM, operated by the former. Its main objective is to produce oil and gas on the Dutch continental shelf. The 1.500 NAM employees are partially located in the headquarters in Assen, while others are located in facilities across the country and its waters. All employees working at NAM fall within the scope of the research. Shell uses an internal social media platform called Yammer for its internal communication needs. Yammer is a social media platform provided by Microsoft and is integrated with other Office products (Microsoft, 2019). According to internal documents, 90.000 employees of Shell are users of the program worldwide of which 71.000 actively engage with the system. These Shell numbers grow with an average of 4000 new users per month. NAM also has to use this system since Shell‟s centralized IT governance structures also includes its joint-ventures. Although NAM is just a small party within Shell, it can be assumed the number of users within NAM is also increasing and that not all users actively engage with the system. What makes the case particularly useful to this study is that it has been observed that NAM employees use ESM in differing manners and toward different ends, allowing observation and comparison of a variety of use behaviors.
17
and introduction of the interview. The next section describes the method of data collection, including the selection of respondents from the population.
Data collection
Qualitative interviews were conducted and spaced out over time to enable changing the interview questions to combat oversights and add topics stemming from the interviews, ensuring a dataset containing relevant qualitative information on Yammers affordances. This increased the construct validity by ensuring the questions are appropriate to the case. Changes were carefully considered and logged to prevent reducing reliability by decreasing the internal consistency. To make the iterative improvement process possible, two or three interviews were performed, transcribed and coded at a time. The first iteration was a pilot test and included a post-interview feedback conversation, helping to refine the research questions (Turner, 2010).
User group Respondent code Function Location Duration (MM:SS)
Enthusiastic activists
EA1 Exploration Geoscientist Assen 30:35
EA2 Production Chemist Assen 35:51
EA3 Operations Manager Assen 30:48
EA4 IT Manager Assen 34:36
EA5 Production Technologist Assen 41:30
EA6 Implementation Lead Skype 25:49
EA7 ER/IR Advisor Assen 40:34
Pragmatic conformist
PC1 ER/IR Advisor Assen 31:15
PC2 HR consultant Assen 37:36
PC3 Advisor Learning Skype 38:31
PC4 Production Team Lead Skype 39:55
PC5 Maintenance Supervisor Assen 37:37
PC6 Supply Chain Lead Assen 37:58
PC7 ER/IR Supervisor Assen 41:05
PC8 Outpost Focal Point Assen 30:35
Skeptical shunners
SS1 Business Admin Support Skype 23:00
SS2 Secretary Assen 21:09
SS3 Ops Management Systems Skype 19:16 Table 1: Overview of Respondents
18
Djerf-Pierre‟s (2013) user behavior groups (Creswell, 2017; Turner, 2010). Maximum variation sampling enhances the possibility of finding insights early on, which in combination with the iterative analytic strategy focuses the data gathering.
Because use behaviors are not easily observed without intimate knowledge of the individual, the interviewees were identified and selected using two indicators. Firstly, if they used the system at all. Secondly, the number of posts in twelve months, with users posting between 0-10 posts per year being categorized as pragmatic conformists and those with more than 10 posts per year being seen as enthusiastic activists. This data was collected by observing user profiles. These observations were later confirmed during interviews using both self-evaluation and subjective evaluation. Self-assessment was the last part of the questions on use. Subjective evaluation was based on the definition found in literature and took place during the analytical phase.
A standardized open-ended interview protocol was used in combination with probing questions to gather detailed information from the participants by granting the participant the opportunity to fully express their point of view, which is necessary to gather insights into their perspective and perceived affordances. It also increases validity and reliability by ensuring questions are not steered into a predetermined direction and all areas of affordances are covered (Turner, 2010). Interview protocols were divided into five topics introduced by a pre-interview checklist (Appendix A). This checklist introduced the topics and ensured pre-interviews were conducted with an unambiguous focus and alleviate possible problematic circumstances (Turner, 2010). Anonymity was strongly emphasized due to the researcher‟s professional involvement. It was clearly stated that the data collected was only used for the purpose of the research to ensure the respondent can speak freely, increasing validity.
19
by the literature, such as: “How does Yammer afford you more visibility of you and your content?”. This topic ended by inquiring about constraints the user might perceive.
The interviews were conducted individually over a period of 4-weeks, throughout different departments. Thirteen interviews were conducted face-to-face in Assen, the remaining interviews were through Skype VoIP due to lack of accessibility of the respondent's location (such as an oil rig). Discussing the five topics, excluding introduction, took on average 33 minutes. Skeptical shunners‟ non-use of the system made the interviews shorter. After the first iteration, another interview scheme was added for the skeptical shunner user group because the use focused phrasing of the questions was not compatible with their non-use of the system. Also, throughout the iterations minor changes were made to the questions, making them more effective at answering the research question, such as reordering, rephrasing, adding or splitting questions. Three interviews were added after the second iteration because user behavior was not optimally predicted by the post count only. Some skeptical shunners without posts turned out to be rather active on the system, while some enthusiastic activists were rather conforming. All interviews were recorded with permission to ensure the whole conversation could be transcribed and analyzed rather than distilled notes, which increased the reliability. All except one interview (EA6) were used, this due to a corrupted audio file.
Observations explored the technical features and the behavior of users on ESM. Observations were done through the role of complete observer since the researcher‟s presence was passive and unnoticed by participants of the ESM (Merriam, 2015). Evidence was collected using my own senses combined with careful note-taking. These insights were formulated as neutral and factual as possible (Yin, 2012). To increase the quality of evidence found during observations an observation scheme was used (Merriam, 2015), see Appendix B. Rather than providing the location of the observations as in traditional observations, the device type was noted because of the digital nature of ESM. Also, a distinction was made between observation and comments to create transparency between factual and subjectivity. In total three observations were made averaging 2,33 hours. This included observations on the number of posts per respondent, system features, and content posted on the platform. Each observation was recorded with Microsoft Snipping tool, to provide a clear chain of evidence.
20
overwhelming, therefore search terms were made more specific and only the first hundred entries were analyzed. Most files were uploaded multiple times, so the search stopped when there was saturation. Files named: „Yammer‟ but used for other topics, made it harder to find files related to the use, features or goals of Yammer. Most documents found during the document analysis were instructions on how to use Yammer, such as how to open the program on a mobile device. Other documents outlined a use protocol, such as usage guidelines and policies. A few gave a description of the use of the platform, such as a yearly overview of user numbers. One document outlined the difference between Yammer and Sign and a strategy to decide upon when to use which platform. Appendix C provides an overview of the documents found. What follows is a description of the analytical strategy.
Analytical strategy
The transcribed interviews were imported and coded in Atlas TI 8.4. The analysis compared user behavior, goals and perceived affordances of these three groups by coding the consistent phrases, expressions and ideas among the participants (Kvale, 2007; Turner, 2010). The coding procedure took the form of two cycles per iteration.
The first open coding, during which concepts within the transcription were identified and labeled. Similar concepts were labeled with the same code, this was done by comparing the different concepts of the interview (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). The theoretical framework was used as a starting point, but other codes were added during the open coding process. An example of open coding was respondents mentioning the gathering of information about what is happening within its organizational environment, which was coded as: „environmental scanning‟.
This process of continuous comparison decreases the subjectivity of the researcher, decreasing the bias of the researcher had because of his employment and knowledge of the company. To improve accuracy during this process, some quotes were divided into sub quotes to differentiate between quotes that share the same topic but differ somewhat in meanings. For example, the „environmental scanning‟ code was divided into gathering information on the organization as a whole or only functional colleagues. This resulted in the discovery of properties and dimensions noted in the interviews that were relevant to answering the research question (Mortelmans, 2009; Strauss & Corbin, 1990). The open coding was followed by axial coding.
21
coding to integrate and refine the theory (Mortelmans, 2009; Strauss & Corbin, 1990). As with the open coding, the theoretical framework was taken as a starting point. Some of the categories used were affordances, features, and goals.
After the coding process, the user-groups were compared using within-group and cross-group analysis (Yin, 2012). The within-group analysis analyzed the goals, known features, perceived affordances and constraints each user group individually. The cross-group analysis compared the above-mentioned categories across the user groups using fen diagrams.
22 RESULTS
This chapter discusses the findings of the interviews, document analysis, and observations Starting with a description of the identified use behaviors. Followed by the results of the within-group analysis, including a description of the goals, the knowledge of features and perceived affordances of each user group. The chapter concludes with the findings of the cross-case analysis, describing differences and similarities between the user groups. Appendix E provides a comprehensive observation of Yammer‟s features, for readers unfamiliar with micro-blogging ESM.
User group Respondent code Number of posts
Enthusiastic activists EA1 14 EA2 10 EA3 10 EA4 16 EA5 14 EA6 11 EA7 15 Pragmatic conformists PC1 1 PC2 0 PC3 0 PC4 4 PC5 2 PC6 5 PC7 4 PC8 0 Skeptical shunners SS1 0 SS2 0 SS3 0
Table 2: Observation of number of post per respondent User groups
23
“I am a frequent viewer. But I will not say that I am a frequent contributor. Quite frequent. Daily! (…) Posting I rarely do, only for business reasons.” – PC2
In contrast, others only interacted with the system on a weekly basis with an enthusiastic attitude. Because this research defines use behavior as the conjunction of complementary features and goals resulting in perceived IT affordances, the differentiation was based on how the system was used rather than solely the frequency of opening the program.
Skeptical shunners
The interviews indicate that all skeptical shunners view Yammer as contributing minimally to their role goals. Organization-wide collaboration is the only organizational level goal they mentioned:
“(…) the tool becomes more and more important because of changes. It contributes to teamwork and working together. Not only within the Netherlands but within the whole world of Shell.” - SS2
This being one of the three goals outlined in a document outlying the strategy surrounding Yammer‟s use, finding answers quick, collaborate with anyone and, build knowledge pool. It stressed that collaboration should take place throughout the organization, across locations, departments and pay grades. Besides organizational goals, the interviews indicate that one goal is to comply with perceived group pressure to use the ESM.
All skeptical shunners express that they are unfamiliar with the functionality of Yammer. They name only core features, including editing, posting a message and creating a group. Skeptical shunners also express that Yammer offers little to no affordance. Also, learning new affordances is being perceived as a waste of time and they view alternatives as more effective. But they do suggest that with more guidance they might learn more about it and start using it:
24
am told in advance: „This is really going to save you a lot of time‟, then it is something that makes you think: to dive into that one day.”- SS1
Some skeptical shunners do perceiving some basic affordance, namely that Yammer affords the fast posting of a message to a group, allowing a broad reach of the content shared. Posting to a group could be a request for assistance:
“I saw a request last week. Someone asked for material for a presentation. You can reach tens, hundreds and perhaps thousands quickly through that forum. Which would be difficult with e-mail because: to whom do you send all those e-mails? I think it offers a platform with which you can exchange information quickly.” –SS3
Figure 2 shows an example of a user requesting advice, users answering the request and others commenting that it was a useful discussion. This showcases how Yammer contributes towards the organizational goal of collaboration by affording publically requesting support.
Figure 2: Example of request for collaboration
25
of content. The latter making the goal of sharing information harder because not everybody uses Yammer due to it being voluntary:
“You don't reach them directly with Yammer. Because they do not open it or ignore the messages they receive in the mailbox. Then you do not really reach the target group that you want.” – SS2
Pragmatic conformists
Most pragmatic conformists see Yammer as a helpful tool to reach certain role goals, with teambuilding being mentioned the most:
“It is nice to see, but you do not have to do anything with it. This way you build a community. That you still feel that you are a member of this group where people actually only see virtually.” – PC7
Teambuilding was not mentioned in the document analysis. Pragmatic conformists also mentioned individual goals, such as: getting up to speed, extra-role behavior, hedonic goals, relatedness and self-promotion. Relatedness being mentioned most. On the organizational level, half of the respondents view sharing knowledge and collaboration as the goals for using Yammer.
The features, uploading content and e-mail notifications were mentioned the most by pragmatic conformists. Less mentioned features were: tagging, reacting to content, private messaging, mobile app and joining and sharing within groups. All these features were also named in documents found during the document analysis, namely in files providing instructions on how to use Yammer.
Pragmatic conformists mentioned the following affordances, listed in descending order: visibility, association, environmental scanning, aggregation of information, wide reach, cross-sharing knowledge, persistence, and editability. This paragraph continues with a detailed description of these affordances.
Visibility.
26
posting content, while some additionally see Yammer as a tool to observe behavior and discussions otherwise not as accessible:
“It is interesting to see. It gives a picture of what really lives there. About how it is perceived and what emotions people express. It is, therefore, easier for them to express it that way than to go to a large town hall to say something.”- PC7
A few respondents added that content posted is more than just information, it is coupled with experiences. This increases the trustworthiness of the content shared and helps them to adopt the content:
“People put things on Yammer because of their personal experience. „Recently I did this project‟ or „I found that this tool is really useful‟. Then when you read it, it is with more buy-in to use the tool. Because you know that there is a word of mouth on the use and usefulness. (…) What Yammer gives you is not just the information, but also the experience. You know there is somebody that already has gone through it.” - PC2
Half of the respondents shared another aspect of visibility, the ability to publically celebrate successes. Which is a combination of the before mentioned features in relation to the role goal of recognizing the successes of individuals. For example, Figure 3 shows a post that celebrates an employee receiving a certification.
27
A few pragmatic conformists expressed visibility as sharing information outside of their own departments, such as promoting an event or distributing practical information. Figure 4 shows an example of a poster for an event being shared on Yammer.
Figure 4: Example of promoting an event Cross-sharing knowledge.
Some pragmatic conformists perceive Yammer to afford cross-sharing knowledge, the ability to provide and gain knowledge from parts throughout the organization. Most see it as easing the exchange of feedback which facilitates a virtual brainstorming sessions and knowledge exchange:
“Instead of having to set up a meeting for it (...) you complement each other and then we can say: 'there is a solution for that' or 'we have the best idea'. Connecting people a bit and get them into a conversation.” – PC5
28
Figure 5: Example of cross-sharing knowledge Environmental scanning.
Interviews indicate that the features of Yammer that allow visibility also afford environmental scanning, which is perceived by most pragmatic conformists. Environmental scanning is the gathering of information about what is happening with functional colleagues or within the whole organization. Environmental scanning affords the employee to gauge the environment through shared content. This affordance contributes towards the individual goal of relatedness, the psychological need to connect with others:
“I also go there and check what is happening in other parts of the organization. I found this part to be most useful. We are sitting in NAM Assen. That can be rather remote. Like people sitting in head office, there are town halls or other activities. Also, in the corridors they can just join, but not us. Since I found Yammer (...) I can see much more. They put videos in. They keep me connected with them.” – PC2
Association.
29
organizational goals of knowledge sharing and collaboration most pragmatic conformists view Yammer as a tool to get acquainted with the specific unknown colleagues that can answer a query. An example is Figure 2, depicting a user requesting information on a topic without directing it toward a specific colleague. As one respondent mentioned:
“It is an easy way to find the right people quickly. You are looking longer if you have to address all individually like: do you know this or someone who did it? Because the group has some fairly active people. (...) You know that it is being read and they can refer you, which is much faster than if you have to find someone yourself. “– PC6
Some pragmatic conformists view that Yammer affords them to associate with new content through getting tagged by other users, as shown in the example in Figure 4 were people are tagged to receive information on an event. Others view Yammer as a way to come in contact with users that work on topics of interest to them. In regards to the individual goal of relatedness, the tool affords employees communication across geographical locations. This allows the building of virtual communities throughout the organization:
“You do not have to do anything with it, but in this way you build a community. That you still feel that you are a member of this group were people actually only see each other virtually. They never see each other in real life, but they do work together. Then his platform helps.” – PC7
30
Figure 6: Example of teambuilding
Also Figure 7, showcasing the sharing of pictures of an event with those that could not attend. Both posts are examples of how posting on the platform can create closeness between team members and create a sense of team.
31
Aggregation of information.
More than half of pragmatic conformists perceived the affordance aggregation of information in a useful manner, making it easier to consume. It affords to go quickly through the information because of the short format and attachments Yammer provides and contributes towards the individual goal of getting up to speed:
“Otherwise I should have heard it from a colleague, now I can just read it after I have been on vacation. I can read and see the highlights in it. Things I might not have known otherwise (…) I scan and then I may also read the rest. I also like that they add photos. That always gives a good impression.” – PC4
Some also mention that it affords aggregation of information through posts of other users, by linking to relevant information in larger data sources such as data libraries. An example is shown in Figure 8, a post of an employee referring to a database using a hyperlink. The accompanying text indicates what kind of information is on that digital location.
Figure 8: Observation on linking relevant sources
32
user a choice to receive the information by being voluntary with no perception of being mandatory or pushed by social pressure, norms or other obligation that other media have:
“Last summer we had an event. If you make a story about it with a photo and description of what you have done, that is nice. But that in an email to fifty men is quite intrusive. A Yammer post with a few photos is, of course, an easy way that it is less intrusive. People get it in their newsfeed and if they find it interesting then they click on it. They do not have to actively throw away or open emails.” – PC8
Persistence.
The persistence of information, to be available for future reference, is mentioned by a few pragmatic conformists. Yammer allows conversations not to be limited by time and locations, but rather to take place over a period of time:
“In a town hall, with our leaders, those Q&A sessions are always somehow 5 minutes or 10 minutes. Because the majority of the time they are talking. In the past when the session of an hour ended it ended, despite all the questions that went into the system for that session. Nobody cares or responds. But now I found that the business puts all the questions to the Yammer site, and they reply.”– PC2
Also, some pragmatic conformists mention that Yammer makes information more accessible by providing it on a mobile device. Persistence contributes to the organizational goal of knowledge sharing.
Constraints.
Some pragmatic conformists mentioned that Yammer lacks persistence of content because it contains too much information, making it harder to gain the relevant information needed. This is increased by a lack of searchability:
33
This makes Yammer less effective for knowledge sharing in comparison to an alternative, SIGN. This was also described in a document outlining the use of Yammer. Moreover, its information sharing potential is limited because not all employees are on Yammer. Lastly, Yammer is perceived as a diversion from work.
Enthusiastic activists
Enthusiastic activists mention role goals the most, mainly celebrating successes and internally marketing their department. Some mention organizational goals such as collaboration and sharing knowledge. Of the individual goals, self-promotion was mentioned most and is similar to marketing the department but rather on the individual level:
“One goal I have is communication, letting others know what I am doing and what happens in the department. (…) It is part of everyone's package. It is a part of being a manager but also of every person to market himself and to make clear to everyone around him what he can do. Only then can you create interest of others. Then people start thinking: I want to do this or that with that gentleman or lady.”– EA4
The features: uploading content and sharing between groups were most often mentioned during the interviews. The affordances perceived by enthusiastic activists in descending order are: visibility, persistence, association, cross-sharing knowledge, aggregation of information, editability and, environmental scanning and broad reach. Most have been similarly described as with the pragmatic conformists, the once with different observations are discussed below.
Visibility.
Most enthusiastic activists view Yammer as a tool that provided visibility of content to a group, which they use to request or share knowledge. The most mentioned aspect of visibility was publically celebrating success. This affordance comes about due to the features of posting and contributes towards the goal of marketing their department:
34
Figure 9: Publically celebrating the success of a group
Figure 9 provides an example of how this type of celebrating success takes place on Yammer. The picture shows a group of individuals in a room with a screen, memo paper, and a flipover. The post reads that a certain program has taken place and what the results were. This post is meant to showcase what the department did and can do, marketing itself to other parties in the organization.
Also, visibility is sometimes described as sharing information found on Yammer to other groups. This synthesizing of information is also to the benefit of the organizational goal of sharing knowledge:
“This morning I also saw something, which I forwarded to a team member. It was an overview of manuals. When I think: „hey that's handy‟, then I try to share that.”– EA3 Aggregation of information.
35
“You cannot force people to sit in a meeting room every day to hear what other teams are doing, that is not efficient. Yammer allows people to share what they are doing in a not too invasive way that does not take up a lot of time. It just takes 10 seconds to read a post.”– EA5
Constraints.
Constraints mentioned by the enthusiastic activists are that relevant information is hard to find, it being a diversion from work, it provides only limited sharing and being an addition to existing communication platforms. The later viewing Yammer as an obstacle in spreading information because it is an addition to already used communication channels, increasing the workload by adding another channel:
“It has become a bit of a proliferation of internal communication channels as a result. Yammer has been added, but there is not a clear line from management.” – EA7 Comparison of insights across user groups
This section compares the goals, features, perceived affordances and constraints of each user group. Appendix F summarizes the findings and shows the connections between the concepts.
Findings show skeptical shunners view Yammer contributing towards fewer goals than the groups actively using the system (Appendix G.1). While skeptical shunners and conformists see minimal relation to their role goals, pragmatic conformists do see some role goals such as celebrating successes and team building. Enthusiastic activists do not share this sentiment and view additional role goals besides those mentioned by pragmatic conformists, namely celebrating successes of groups and marketing the department. Skeptical shunners only view „complying with group pressure‟ and „fear of missing out‟ as individual goals. Enthusiastic activists and pragmatic conformists also name: autonomy, getting up to speed, extra-role behavior, hedonic goals, relatedness, and self-promotion.
36
Enthusiastic activists view most goals, namely: marketing the department and celebrating successes.
Regarding features, all respondents are familiar with the core features of Yammer (Appendix G.2), namely: posting, editing, and groups creation. Whereas skeptical shunners only name these core features, enthusiastic activists and pragmatic conformist know more and similar features. Such as: joining and sharing between groups; tagging users; uploading content with attachments, hyperlinks or polls; reacting on content; private messaging, e-mail notifications and mobile application. Only pragmatic conformists mention the features of selecting groups from a suggested group‟s page and making custom profiles. Enthusiastic activists additional know viewing members of groups and the viewers of their content, features focused on gaining feedback from the system on their content. So, while skeptical shunners have a simplistic understanding of Yammer, pragmatic conformists and enthusiastic activists view additional features focused on ease of use, enriching content and gaining feedback from the system.
37
conformists. So, skeptical shunners mention fewer affordances and only basic affordances. Enthusiastic activists and pragmatic conformists view these affordances in more detail and view mostly the same additional affordances. Enthusiastic activists perceive aggregation of information as affording more sorting options, while pragmatic conformists view association and visibility as tools to building a community and granting visibility to events and practical information.
Constraints differ minimally between user groups (Appendix G.4). All user groups view Yammer as a diversion from work and the information overload and limited sharing because not everybody being a part of the platform as an obstacle in achieving their goals. Interestingly, both enthusiastic activists and skeptical shunners share one additional constrained: the low response on posts. Both enthusiastic activists and skeptical shunners view Yammer as an additional platform increasing the workload when communicating.
DISCUSSION
The aim of this study was to obtain an understanding about how different types of use behaviors observed during post-adoptive use differ in their perceived affordance of the ESM. It was found that the user groups did differ in their perceived affordance of the ESM, with the largest difference being between nonusers and active users of the system. Skeptical users perceive few and less detailed affordances, while more active users perceive multiple affordances. These active users, pragmatic conformists that mostly read and enthusiastic activists that actively contribute content, share most goals, features, and affordances with only some differences in how they perceive certain affordances. What follows is an in-depth exploration of each finding of this study.
38
added content or only read for themselves. The finding that most users in this case study were passive, either skeptical shunners or pragmatic conformists, can be explained by the use of Yammer being voluntary. There is no incentive from management or organizational department to use the system. Potential users have to decide on their own to use it. In this case, many decide not to, either due to seeing no direct relationship to their job or the presence of alternatives for its functionality.
Proposition 1: ESM use at own discretion may result in a majority of passive users because they see no direct relation to their job description or know alternatives for its functionality.
39
Proposition 2: A higher frequency of interaction with a system may result in more goals and knowledge of the features of an ESM.
The third finding is that user groups perceive similar constraints but different affordances of Yammer. Specifically, this study found that skeptical users perceive fewer affordances than enthusiastic and conforming users. Moreover, this study found that enthusiastic users perceive different affordances than those only conforming, focusing more on increasing visibility of their department rather than teambuilding and sharing practical information or events. These differences in perceived affordances correspond with less knowledge about the features the ESM offers and fewer goals for using the system. This shows that affordances depend on the unique characteristics of the user and technology, confirming Djerf-Pierre et al. (2016) and Faraj & Bijan (2012) and expanding upon their studies by showing that these affordances differ per use behavior. For example, the finding of active users perceiving more affordances than nonusers during this case study could be explained by skeptical users viewing the use of ESM on (private) mobile devices as necessary for ESM use, which they see as a negative influence their work-life balance. Viewing the mobile application as an inherent part of the ESM shows a lack of knowledge of its features and might have reduced the perceived affordance.
The finding during this study that the perceived affordances between pragmatic and enthusiastic users differed could be explained by pragmatic conformists expressing that they are unsatisfied with the content on the ESM, specifically the relevance of the content to their goals. Enthusiastic users did not express this kind of sentiment during the interviews.
Proposition 3a: Knowledge on features of an ESM may increase perceived affordance.
Proposition 3b: Relevance of content on an ESM to the goals of the user may increase perceiving affordance.
Theoretical contributions
40
differences. Thirdly, this study also contributes to the theory of IT affordances. Not only does this study confirm the affordances provided by Treem & Leonardi (2012), it provides future researchers with three new affordances, namely environmental scanning, cross-sharing knowledge, and aggregation of information. The findings confirmed that affordances result from both features and goals, and showed that all these concepts differ between user groups. This provides a new understanding of how affordances relate to the use behavior of technology within organizations.
Managerial recommendations
This study provides concrete examples of affordances an ESM can provide. These help organizations with implemented ESM, to better understand how their users see the advantages and disadvantages of the technology, specifically, which affordances could be perceived by the users and how they could differ between user groups. Furthermore, the information on differing perceived affordances of the user groups can be applied to create interventions to increase the use of an ESM. For example, if the value-adding behavior of the enthusiastic activist is wanted from all employees, then increasing knowledge of system and advocating for similar goals might ferry over these behaviors to those that are conforming or skeptical by increasing their perceived affordances. Ultimately, these finding could help those in charge by granting insights on where to focus their attention when attempting to increase the use of an ESM.
Limitations and future research
41
Additionally, during the present study, skeptical shunners where interviewed disproportionally to the other groups. Skeptical shunner respondents willing to talk openly about their perspective were hard to identify, limiting the amount and quality of the data gathered. My position as both a researcher and employee might have had a discouraging effect on participation, regardless of the efforts to express anonymity. Therefore, approaching
skeptical shunners in future research should be done with great caution. Furthermore, ESM are
widely applied throughout different industries. Therefore future research could apply the premise of this study in diverse contexts that provide different occupational groups to provide a more generalizable perspective, like a non-technical context such as the hospitality industry.
Conclusions
In conclusion, this study provides the following key insights. Firstly, it identified that the social media platform Yammer offers its users the following affordances: environmental scanning, cross-sharing knowledge, and aggregation of information. It also confirms the presence of the affordances: visibility, editability, association, and persistence. Secondly, the comparison between user groups shows that they differ in the number of goals and known features resulting in differing perceived affordances. Lastly, active users of the system view more affordances than skeptical nonusers. Enthusiastic and pragmatic users share most of their perceived affordances. This study proposes that ESM use at own discretion might result in a majority of passive users. Also, high frequency of interaction with a system may result in more goals and knowledge of the features of an ESM. Further, knowledge of features and relevance of content to the goals of an individual are instrumental in the differences between perceived affordances of users.
