IMPROVING THE INTRANET SYSTEM TO ENHANCE
RELATIONAL COORDINATION IN A MENTAL HEALTH
CARE ORGANIZATION
By:
Marloes Luttje
S2141655
Supervisors:
M.A.G. Van Offenbeek
K.R.E. Huizingh
Faculty of Economics and Business
Master Business Development
18 June 2013
Abstract: The purpose of this research is to improve current intranet functionalities and qualities to enhance the intranet performance. The improvement of the intranet is meant to contribute to the overall performance of the organization: the mental health care company Lentis. From Lentis management’s point of view, the intranet is a platform that should contribute to daily work via which ideas can be shared, cooperation with colleagues is made possible and on which information is provided. In the literature this is called relational coordination. Relational coordination is believed to be critical to organizational performance. This study answers how functionalities and qualities of the intranet might be improved so that employees can benefit more from using the intranet for relational coordination than is currently the case. This research contributes to the literature about the intranet, identifying intranet qualities and functionalities that
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction ...1 1.1 Business problem ... 1 1.2 Research problem ... 2 2. Literature review ...4 2.1 Relational coordination ... 4 2.2 Intranet... 5 2.2.1 Functionalities intranet ... 62.2.2 Qualities of the intranet ... 9
2.3 Individual acceptance models ... 10
2.3.1 Technology Acceptance Model ... 11
3. Conceptual Model ... 12
4. Methodology ... 13
4.1 Redesign ... 14
4.2 Research questions and data collection ... 14
4.3 Data collection methods ... 16
4.4 Planning of data collection ... 18
4.5 Sample ... 18
4.6 Data analysis ... 18
5. Results ... 19
5.1 Descriptive results ... 19
5.2 The current intranet system of the organization ... 21
5.2.1 The current intranet functionalities of the organization ... 21
5.2.2 The current intranet qualities of the organization... 23
5.3 The benefits to relational coordination ... 24
5.3.1 Data reduction ... 24
5.4 The mediation effects that influence the relational coordination ... 25
5.4.2 Path 2 ... 27
5.4.3 Path 3 ... 29
5.4.4 Path 4 ... 30
5. 5 Future intranet ... 30
5.5.1 Future intranet functionalities ... 31
5.5.2 Future intranet situation ... 32
6. Conclusion and discussion ... 34
6.1 Discussion ... 34
6.1.1 Current intranet situation ... 34
6.1.1 Future intranet situation ... 36
6.2 Conclusion ... 38
6.3 Managerial implications ... 38
6.3.1 Current intranet functionalities ... 39
6.3.2 Current intranet qualities ... 39
6.3.3 Future intranet functionalities ... 39
6.3.4 Recommendations for Lentis management ... 40
6.4 Limitations and further research ... 41
References ... 43
Appendix1 ... 46
Enquête over het Lentis intranet ... 46
Appendix2 ... 52
1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BUSINESS PROBLEM
This research is a case study for Lentis, a mental health care organization in the Netherlands. The organization makes use of an intranet system, which is an intra-organizational information technology network, linked to the internet with the form of architectural technology (Clarke et al., 2005). Intranet itself does not include specific uses. By enabling structure and applications the intranet platform could be useful (Newell et al., 2000).
This is clearly not the case for Lentis, because according to the management, the current system that was installed on March 7, 2006, is inappropriate for internal users: the employees of Lentis. A total of 2,387,982 visitors have visited the intranet since Tuesday, March7, 2006. The busiest day was Tuesday, January 17, 2012 with 2783 visitors and the intranet has an average of 1000 visitors per day. However, the real page views show that employees only make use of the homepage, specific content, vacancies, telephone numbers, declaration forms, the search functionality and the quality handbook of the intranet. Other functionalities are not used and/or not even available. The main drawback of the current intranet system of Lentis is that the intranet does not enable structures and functionalities that may improve daily work for the employees of the company. For this reason the management of Lentis wants to improve their virtual environment.
The purpose of this research is to improve current intranet functionalities and qualities to enhance intranet performance. The improvement of the intranet should contribute to solving real business issues or problems encountered during daily work activities. From Lentis management’s point of view, intranet should contribute to daily work activities providing a platform to share ideas, cooperate with colleagues and find information. These functions are closely related to relational coordination (Gittel, 2002) when regarding the relevant literature. Relational coordination is believed to be critical to organizational performance (Gittel, 2002).
Relational coordination deals with the coordination of information and communication within an organization. The theory of relational coordination (Gittel, 2002) is directed at the informal coordination that occurs through a web of relationships and concerns sharing knowledge, providing high quality communication, emphasizing shared goals and mutual respect. Relational coordination contributes to
particularly important to achieve the desired outcomes that are characterized by high quality relationships and high quality communication. These outcomes can be achieved by encouraging participants to listen to each other and showing them the impact of their own actions or inactions regarding those that are engaged in different areas of the process. When the intranet helps the participants to respond to new information in a coordinated way, this may contribute to the performance of the daily work activities.
When more features are added to an intranet system to meet specific organizational objectives, this may lead to an increase in the sharing of information, which adds value to the organizational culture. (Carayannis, 1998).
There is evidence that the use of computer mediated communication through intranet has possible benefits such as; an increasing amount of shared information within an organization (Talvinen, 1995); more contact between employees of the organization (Adams et al., 1993) and a larger number of groups to join to communicate (Fulk and Boyd, 1991). Larger organizations benefit from intranet communication to overcome the spatial and temporal separation of employees (Talvinen, 1995). Prior research has established that relational coordination in turn predicts efficiency performance (Gittel, 2002). This study strives to find out if relational coordination via the intranet is beneficial for an organization and more specifically for Lentis Mental Health care.
1.2
RESEARCH PROBLEM
In the literature of information systems, user acceptance of new technology is one of the most mature research areas. Research about user acceptance of new technology resulted in theoretical models that explain individual intentions to use technology (Davis, 1989). There are simple and effective models to explain the uptake and success of many information and communication technology tools. This paper uses the abridged version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Chin, 2008) and applies it to the domain of intranet use in an organization. However, little research has been done on developing a model of intranet uptake, acceptance and improvement (Horton et al., 2010). The abridged TAM proved to be a useful theoretical starting point to help understand and explain behavioral intentions to use intranet. The purpose of this research is to determine how functionalities and qualities of the intranet influence the ease of use and the usefulness of the intranet. Therefore, this study aims to create a redesign of the intranet functionalities and qualities which answer the needs of the employees for their daily work activities. In order to achieve this aim the following research question is posed:
“How can the functionalities and qualities of the intranet be improved so that employees can benefit more from using the intranet than in the current situation with regard to relational coordination”
Based on the research question of this study a framework for this study is designed (figure 1) that explains the current intranet situation of the organization and the future intranet situation. This overview of the current and future situation shows which functionalities and/or qualities could be improved in the future to benefit more from the intranet than currently is the case. These benefits are based on benefits of the relational coordination.
To answer the research question the following sub-questions need to be answered:
1. Which qualities of the intranet should be improved so that the employees can benefit from these qualities in their daily activities and more specifically to the relational coordination?
2.
What are the employees’ attitudes towards the current intranet qualities?3. Which functionalities of the intranet should be improved or created so that the employees can benefit from these functionalities by relational coordination? And which current functionalities can be discontinued?
4. Which current functionalities of the intranet are used and which functionalities are not used by the employees and how do the employees benefit from these functionalities by relational coordination?
In the next chapter the literature used for this research is reviewed. Chapter three then focuses on the conceptual model applied in this thesis. The methodology is discussed in chapter four. Chapter five focuses on data analysis. In the last chapter the conclusion is drawn and the limitations of this research as well as possible future research possibilities are discussed.
Figure 2. Dimensions of relational coordination (Gittel, 2008)
2.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the relational coordination is first discussed. Second, the intranet system is described and the functionalities and qualities of the intranet are defined. In the third section, individual acceptance models are discussed.
2.1
RELATIONAL COORDINATION
Coordination is viewed as an information processing problem by organization design and contingency theorists (Lawrence et al., 1967). However, coordination has turned out to be a relational process as well (Weick and Roberts, 1993). The theory of relational coordination argues specifically that the effectiveness of coordination is determined by the quality of communication among participants in a work process. The communication in a work process is based on four communication dimensions: the frequency of communication, the timelines of communication, the accuracy of communication and the problem solving nature of communication among participants in a work process (Gittel et al., 2008). Gittel’s (2006) work shows how these dimensions depend on the quality of the underlying relationships that are concerned with the shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect. The quality of these relationships reinforces the quality of communication (figure 2).
Relational coordination is expected to influence the performance outcomes of an organization. According to Gittel et al. (2008) frequent and timely communication produces quick responses to information, especially to new information. These quick responses reduce the delays of information sharing and increases customer needs. Accurate communication should reduce potential errors. Problem solving communication is about focusing on improvement and education instead of on information concealment and blaming.
High quality communication generally leads to stronger relationships. This can be realized by encouraging participants to be fully aware of the impact of their actions and by encouraging them to listen to other participants. Frequent, timely, accurate and problem solving communication therefore improves the performance of the work process (Gittel et al., 2008).
In short, relational coordination refers to coordinating work through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect supported by accurate, timely, frequent and problem-solving communication. Relational coordination thus contributes to a better performing organization. Relational coordination is expected to be particularly important for achieving desired outcomes that are characterized by high quality relationships and high quality communication. The desired outcomes are possible when participants are encouraged to listen to each other and to take account for the impact of their own actions or inactions on those who are engaged in different parts of work the process. Therefore, when the intranet helps the participants to react to new information in a coordinated way, this may contribute to an improvement of the daily work activities.
Intranet facilitates interaction and communication and creates knowledge connections (Inkpen, 1998). Intranet in an organization supports knowledge connections in at least three different ways. The first way is by providing space and time for the users of the intranet. The second way is the ability to offer flexibility to exchange information and the last way is by supporting information transfers (Lai et al., 1998). If an intranet adds more features to meet specific organization objectives it may improve the sharing of information, which also adds value to the organizational culture and mindset towards the underlying values of the organization (Carayannis, 1998).
2.2
INTRANET
In small organizations face-to-face communication suffices to coordinate activities between employees. When an organization becomes larger, though, it gets harder to communicate face-to-face with every employee (Mintzberg, 1983). Within such a larger organization employees are grouped according to the tasks that they perform. Most of all departments are geographically separated, however, they still require information and direction from other departments in the organization. Therefore the coordination of information and communication of different departments is essential in a larger organization. A tool for the coordination of the information and cooperation of different departments is intranet. Intranets operates in the same way as the open format internet, however, intranet is not publicly accessible.
There are many definitions of intranet, ranging from technological definitions to functional definitions. In this research the following definition is used: “all the web technologies based Information, Communication and Technology applications/services that support business processes and which an organization can present to employees” (Martini et al., 2009). In other words intranet is a way of
thinking and organizing people, work and interaction. This definition is used because this definition is in line with the way of thinking of Lentis’ management.
Intranet is an intra-organizational information technology network, linked to the internet with the form of architectural technology (Clarke et al., 2005). By enabling structure and applications the intranet could be useful (Newell et al., 2000). These applications are the functionalities of the intranet.
2.2.1
FUNCTIONALITIES INTRANET
The basic aim of intranet is to facilitate employees in their day-to-day activities, to link different departments, locations and employees and to support employees during emergencies. Next to that, the intranet is also meant to develop personal growth of the employees (Beverly, 2012). To create a successful intranet, functionalities are useful. Functionalities can be defined as the possibilities of the intranet (Koeleman et al., 2002). According to the literature, the following functionalities are useful to create a successful intranet:
1. Homepage with content: The homepage is the starting point of the intranet, thus a good intranet homepage should grab the attention of the employees of the organization. This means, a homepage that is attractive, active and full of content is favorable. The homepage represents the brand of the organization and reveals the values of the organization. The content is all about the employees and the company, with stories about, for example, organizational changes, introductions of new joiners in the company and employee achievements (Beverly, 2010).
2. Contact and expertise staff: Organizations must support the idea that employees of the organization share information with others. The functionality file transfers and discussions groups by means of online suggestions places, blogs and wiki’s (wiki’s allows users to add, delete or modify content via a web browser) make it possible to contact other colleagues in the organization (Telleen, 1997).
3. Information exchange between departments and colleagues: The intranet could be a place where people are free to move developed expertise and set up network relations. When this happens the intranet changes into a virtual workspace in which the organization could encourage employees to innovate, share and collaborate (Martini et al., 2009).
4. Information management and document management
:
Information and documentmanagement concerns: the documentation of company information, the policies of the company, resources, contracts, travel declaration and forms for HR, IT and administration (Nielsen, 1999).
5. Integrated business software: This provides the ability to integrate different business software’s within one environment. The intranet system is a well-used site in an organization. By making business software accessible and available on the intranet, employees can easily find what they need (Lamb et al., 2000).
6. Integrating internal communication tools: Integrating internal communication tools concerns tools like micro blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn into the internal communication. In this way, different communication channels are integrated in the company (Beverly, 2010).
7. Network functionalities: The objective of this network functionality is to support the ongoing relationship between employees and the company. Companies could use professional networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter or a LinkedIn to manage this ongoing relationship. It is possible to create a corporate page where employees could share their experiences and expertise with the company (Beverly, 2010).
8. Personification of the homepage: The ability for internal intranet users to create and maintain their own active intranet homepage. This functionality requires a smartphone with which users are able to create their own environment, which leads to the personification of the intranet (Beverly, 2010).
9. Real time communication (chat): The chat functionality makes it possible to have real time communication and to exchange information between individuals and groups that are online (Nambisan and Wang, 1999).
10. Specific content: Employees may need specific content. Intranet starts with the homepage, however, after that page employees should be able to easily gain access to the right business unit with their specific content. Examples of content categories are: company information, policies and forms, administrative departments, technical recourses, career development and local offices services (Beverly, 2010).
11. Web search: Intranet makes use of search engines. According to Beverly (2010) 30% to 50% of the internal users of the intranet search for information before they use navigation tools.
This case study is based on the mental health care company Lentis and the functionalities of their intranet. The ten most used functionalities of Lentis intranet during the period August to September 2012 are viewed in table 1. The program Goliath Stats that was used for this overview, however, does not measure the frequency of the visitors and page views.
Table 1. Visitors and page views of Lentis intranet functionalities measured by Goliath
Stats in the period August –September 2012
The functionalities that are used by Lentis and mentioned in the literature are:
Homepage with content: The difference in table 1 between the page views and the visitors of homepage of the intranet is due to the fact that the homepage pops up when employees start up the internet. The homepage of Lentis is the starting point of the intranet. The homepage, as described in the aforementioned literature, contains information about employees, the company, organizational changes, introduction of new joiners and employee achievements.
Specific content: Mental health care group Dignis got the second most views. This is mental health care for elderly and this feature contains specific information about the care group. All different care groups (Jonx, Welnis, Linis, and Forint) and departments in the organization have their own specific site with their own content on the intranet.
Web search: The fourth most visited functionality is search results. This corresponds with the web search that is already explained in the literature section about functionalities (point 11).
Contact and expertise staff: The functionality with all the telephone numbers of the employees is the fifth most visited functionality on the intranet of Lentis. It is an Excel document where the location, function, name, telephone number and e-mail of the employees are listed. This functionality is covered by the functionality contact and expertise staff and supports the idea that employees of Lentis can share information with others.
Information and document management: Other intranet functionalities are: the consultation of declaration forms and the qualities handbook. Both functionalities could be compared with information and document management that is explained in the literature section about functionalities (point 4).
Vacancies: This functionality is not mentioned in the literature. This feature enables employees to read internal and external vacancies.
Functionality Lentis intranet Visitors Page views
1. Homepage 63862 111639
2.Dignis (care group for elderly) 14849 15376
3. Vacancies 11546 14642
4. Search results 3826 7200 5. Telephone numbers employees 3826 5054 6. News item (obit) 1415 1454 7. News item (new CEO) 803 878 8. News item (computer virus protection) 720 735 9. Declaration forms 583 722 10.Quality handbook 568 698
The other functionalities that are mentioned in the literature do not correspond with the intranet functionalities of Lentis. Lentis wants to create these functionalities in the future in order to improve the current intranet. This research investigates whether these functionalities could actually improve the relational coordination.
2.2.2
QUALITIES OF THE INTRANET
Now that the functionalities of the intranet are explained, the question remains what the positive outcomes for these functionalities are. This section elaborates on the qualities of the intranet for companies. An aspect of a successful intranet is the design to enhance intranet users. User experiences are based on qualities of the intranet. These qualities are interactivity, navigation, speed, access and management support (Beverly, 2010).
Interactivity: The definition of interactivity is the ongoing relationship between employees and the organization (Duane and Finnegan, 2000). However, in this research the term “Look and Feel” is used to refer to the specifics of the intranet system. ‘Look’ refers to the visual design of the intranet and ‘Feel’ to the interactivity. This interactivity refers to the acceptance of and response to input from humans, data or commands (Duane and Finnegan, 2000). Non-interactive software operates without contact of humans. Thus employees have central access to information and are able to interactively communicate online and to collaborate online.
Navigation: Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movements that go from one place to another. In an intranet portal there are different navigations and behaviors based on user structural knowledge of the user. Appropriate user adaptive navigation can support user’s needs to prevent usability problems. Appropriate navigation depends on the existence of structures in combination with the memory of the user’s egocentric view of the structure and the user’s mental model of the structure (Ji and Salvedy, 2001).
Speed and access: Speed is the rate of the position of an object, which is in this study the intranet. In this study the word approachable is used, which is synonymous with the word access. The intranet platform displays the information of organizations; organizations should provide rapid access to information for the users. Creating an easily approachable organization memory, knowledge base and information storage can help meet the goal of an organization to maintain a well-informed workforce. Therefore, speed and access are critical factors (Gardner, 1998).
Management support: This refers to organizational support where the management of the organization should support the employees of the organization to share their information with others. The management has to support the free flow of information and communication. This can be achieved with training sessions about the functionalities of the intranet (Telleen, 1997).
2.3
INDIVIDUAL ACCEPTANCE MODELS
As discussed in the former two sections, intranet is used to share organizational knowledge and to communicate. The ease of use could positively influence the users so that they communicate more efficiently and share more knowledge. Research indicates that user characteristics have an impact on the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, which on their turn are the main factors underlying the behavioral intentions to use the intranet system (Lai and Li, 2005). Thus, the ease of use and usefulness to use the intranet are critical factors in the acceptance of intranet systems. Therefore, this study investigates intranet acceptance with regard to the employees' intentions to actively use the communication tool. This research is performed using the Technology Acceptance Model.
The issue of individual acceptance of technology systems has been researched before, which resulted in multiple definitions and constructs. The Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), the Technology Acceptance Model (1986), the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), the Innovation Diffusion Theory (Roger, 2003) and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Venkatesh et al, 2003) are all theories and models of individual acceptance.
These aforementioned models are behavioral models, they could predict the actual use of the intranet or Lentis’ employees’ behavioral intentions to use the intranet. We could use one of these models, instead of the Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT), which is based on the characteristics of innovations by Rogers (2003). The IDT is used to study individual technology acceptance that should lead to the level of diffusion. The level of diffusion is the likelihood that a new product or idea will be adopted (Rogers, 2003). In the case of intranet in organizations, the level of diffusion is less interesting than the behavioral intention of the employee, for this reason the IDT is not used in this study.
The second model is the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT). The ATUAT model plays a significant role as a direct determinant of user acceptance and usage behavior such as: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions. Gender, age, experience and voluntaries of use are posited to mediate the impact of the key constructs
on usage intention and behavior (Venkatesh et. al., 2003). Next to that is about individual use in the area of information systems and technology adoption. The Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) states that individual behavior is driven by behavioral intentions. These intentions are a function of an individual's attitude towards the behavior and subjective norms surrounding the performance of the behavior (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975).
The third model is the Theory of Planned Behavior, which states that individual behavior is driven by behavioral intentions. Behavioral intentions are functions of the subjective norms surrounding the behavioral performance. It is the individual's attitude toward the behavior and the individual's perception of the ease with which the behavior can be performed (Ajzen, 1991). The Theory of Planned Behavior model is based on individual use in the area of social psychology (Ajzen, 1991). This research focuses on technology and therefore the Theory of Planned Behavior is of little importance to our research goal.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is an adaptation of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) applied to the field of information systems and technology use, both relevant factors in this research. TAM posits that the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the technology determine an individual's intention to use a system with the intention to use serving as a mediator of actual system use (Venkatesh et. al., 2003 and Davis, 1986).
Since the main question of this thesis focuses on a technology, namely the intranet, the TAM is used. Another argument to use the TAM is that the model is widely used in the healthcare industry (Aggelidis and Chatzoglou, 2008). The TAM is interpreted as an outline to explain intranet adoption according to the study of Horton et al. (2010), which explained the intranet use using the TAM.
2.3.1
TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE MODEL
The Technology Acceptance Model is the most well-known model for examining the usage of information technology (Davis, 1989). The model tests a number of technologies. The original model of Davis (1989) proposes that system use is a response that can be predicted or explained by user motivation, while this user motivation is directly influenced by external stimuli. The TAM is usually used to explain the relationship between the perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) and the future usage. In the study of Davis et al. (1989) a positive relationship between attitude and behavioral intention and between behavioral intention and actual system use was found.
3.
CONCEPTUAL MODEL
Based on the theory in the previous chapter, the conceptual model can be constructed. The conceptual model analyzes the relationship between the variables ‘Intranet Functionalities’ and ‘Intranet Qualities’ and the variables ‘Perceived Usefulness of the Intranet’ and ‘Perceived Ease of use of the Intranet’. Also, the relationship between the variables ‘Use of the Intranet’ and the ‘Relational Coordination’ is analyzed applying this conceptual model. Figure 3 displays the conceptual model.
Intranet functionalities: Functionalities of the intranet are the possibilities for an organization with the intranet. In this research the following functionalities are taken into account: contact and expertise of the staff, homepage with content, information exchange between department and colleagues, information and document management, integration business software, network functionality, personification of the homepage, real time communication, specific content and web search. These functionalities together are fundamental to the intranet (Koeleman et al., 2002). All functionalities are defined in the foregoing chapter in section 2.2.1.
Intranet qualities: An aspect of successful intranet is based on the quality and design to enhance intranet use. User experiences are based on the intranet qualities. In this research the following functionalities are taken into account: overall quality, interactivity, navigation, speed, access and support of the management (Beverly, 2010). All qualities are defined in the foregoing chapter in section 2.2.2.
Perceived usefulness: This is defined as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance (Davis et al., 1989).
Perceived ease of use: This refers to the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort (Davis et al., 1989). Technologies that are easier to use and are considered more useful are more likely to be accepted by users.
Use of the intranet: The use is predicted based upon the factors of perceived ease of use and usefulness (Davis, 1989). The usefulness and ease of use of the technology stimulates people to actually use the intranet. Hence, both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the technology increases the probability that people will actual use the intranet.
Figure 3.The Conceptual Model
Relational coordination: Perceived ease of use and usefulness increase the actual use of the technology, the use of the intranet technology should be beneficial to the organization (Gittel, 2002). These benefits are based on the relational coordination: the coordination of work through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect supported by accurate, timely, frequent and problem-solving communication.
4.
METHODOLOGY
This study follows the design-focused business problem-solving (BPS). The focus of design-focused business problem-solving (BPS) is on solving problems. (Van Aken et al., 2007). This research consequently follows the classic problem solving cycle as elaborated in the regulative cycle by Van Strien (1997). There are five basic steps in this cycle: academic interest, secondary data collection, field data collection, solution and redesign and academic solution and reflection (figure 4). The aim is to realize performance improvement for a certain business system, in this case the intranet system embedded within an organization. Performance improvement always involves organizational change (van Strien, 1997). In this study there is a dialogue with the company, to gain information about the problem the organization faces and to give ear to the experiences of the users and potential users.
4.1
REDESIGN
This study is a BSP project: the redesign is explained in this methodology section. It is called a redesign because it actually is a redesign of an existing business system. The redesigned version of one or more solution concepts is based on the literature (Van Aken et al., 2007). The redesign could be the solution of the business problem and starts with the present business system. The model of the current business system should be complete. It should include (incorporation) the problematic elements that have to be changed, and also the sound elements should be retained (Van Aken et al., 2007).
The input of the redesign is generated by qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. This study proposes a redesign of the intranet system and explains the way how the intranet can be embedded and used in the organization.
4.2
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND DATA COLLECTION
The aim of this section is to describe the procedures and research methods used in order to give an answer to the following research question: “How can the functionalities and qualities of the intranet be improved so that employees can benefit more from using the intranet than in the current situation with regard to relational coordination”
In order to answer the main question first the following sub-questions must be answered:
1. Which current functionalities of the intranet are used and which functionalities are not used by the employees and how do the employees benefit from using these functionalities by relational coordination?
This question is answered by means of interviews, surveys and documentation.
Qualitative data: Interviews are held with Lentis’ employees to investigate their experiences with the current intranet functionalities. The aim of these interviews is to uncover their attitudes towards the current functionalities of the intranet. The problem (lack of use) needs to be understood in relation to the perceived business opportunity by the management of Lentis. Documentation is the second method that is used to answer the research question. Existing documents by Goliath Stats are used as a source of information.
Quantitative data: Quantitative data is used to construct a questionnaire, which is meant to observe the experiences of the employees of Lentis with the current intranet functionalities and qualities.
2.
Which functionalities of the intranet should be improved or created so that the employees can benefit from these functionalities by relational coordination? And which current functionalities can be discontinued?This question is answered by means of interviews and surveys.
Qualitative data: Interviews are held with Lentis’ employees to investigate their attitudes towards the future intranet functionalities. The interviews indicate where the real business opportunities lie and how the intranet can be optimized.
Quantitative data: Qualitative data is obtained by constructing a questionnaire, which is meant to uncover the opinions of the employees of Lentis regarding future functionalities and qualities of the future intranet.
3.
What are the employees’ attitudes towards the current intranet qualities? This question is answered by means of interviews and surveys.Qualitative data: Interviews are held with Lentis’ employees to investigate their experiences with the current intranet qualities. The aim of these interviews is to uncover their attitude towards the current qualities of the intranet in their daily work activities. The qualities could influence the intranet functionalities, therefore the problem (lack of use) needs to be understood first in order to respond to the business opportunity (enhancing the intranet technology). The employees that are interviewed worked on different departments and fulfill different functions.
Quantitative data: Qualitative data is obtained using a questionnaire, which observes the experiences of Lentis’ employees with the current intranet qualities.
4. Which qualities of the intranet should be improved so that the employees can benefit from these qualities in their daily activities and more specifically relational coordination?
Qualitative data: Interviews are held with Lentis’ employees to investigate their attitudes towards the intranet qualities. The qualities could influence the intranet functionalities, therefore the problem (lack of use) needs to be understood properly in order to respond to the business opportunity.
Quantitative data: Qualitative data is obtained using a questionnaire, which is meant to observe the experiences of Lentis’ employees with the current intranet and qualities.
In order to answer the main question of the study, second the control variables must be explained:
Gender, age, years of active work, department, function employee and intranet use are the control variables in this study. Some older respondents may be able to give more favorable satisfaction ratings, since length of stay at the company is expected to positively influence the respondents’ satisfaction with the company. Moreover, gender is expected to positively influence respondents’ satisfaction with the system. It is also expected that different departments and functions have different opinions and needs.
4.3
DATA COLLECTION METHODS
According to Van Aken et al. (2007) the choice of data collection methods is important to establish what kind of information is necessary and what kind of information is available. In this study both qualitative and quantitative data collection are used. In this section, the three data collection methods as used during this research are explained. See figure 5 for an overview. The data is collected with surveys and interviews.
Documentation: Documentation is data that already exists. The study starts analyzing data about the organization archived by the organization. An important source is the data about the intranet functionalities and the analysis of the intranet use with statistical methods (Goliath Stats).
Interviews: This research uses interviews to gather data. To obtain employees’ experiences and attitudes toward the current and future intranet functionalities and qualities, face-to-face interviews were held. These interviews were held with different employees of different departments. In the interviews open-ended questions are asked (Meyers, 2009). The output of the interviews are the input for the questionnaire.
Questionnaire: Items for the online questionnaire are developed to test the main question that was discussed in the previous section. For each part of the questionnaire, existing item sets from the literature were used, thus this study uses well-known multi items scales that have been proven to be valid and reliable. The existing items had to be translated into Dutch and slightly modified to fit this specific setting about intranet.
The TAM is used to measure usefulness and ease of use. The constructs usefulness, ease of use are measured with questionnaires. This questionnaire is based on the fast form TAM instrument of Chin et al. (2008). This is a more efficient and rapid alternative for collecting the data than other Technology Acceptance Models. This TAM instrument is more flexible and allows users of the technology to measure a person’s attitude in terms of what the statement is about (Chin et al, 2008). The questionnaire is also based on the relational coordination items, which are adopted by Gittel et al. (2008).
In this study a questionnaire is held. The questionnaire is developed for employees of Lentis. The questionnaire consists of five different topics. The first topic is about demographic information (age, gender, study etc.) for segmentation. In the second part, the employees can share their perceptions about the current and future intranet functionalities. The third topic asks for the employees’ perceptions on current and future intranet qualities. The opinion about the intranet usefulness and ease of use is addressed in the fourth topic and the fifth topic of the questionnaire is about the perceptions on the use of the intranet. The final topic is about the relational coordination. The complete questionnaire can be found in the appendix (appendix 1).
All items were measured with a 7-points Likert scale that is ranged from 1 “totally disagree” to 7 “totally agree”. The constructed items were tested by six employees to prove that the items are clear and understandable. These testers were employees of the company: three employees that made use of the intranet en three employees who had never used the intranet.
Documentation
1. Current intranet functionatlies
Interviewing
1. Perceptions current and future intranet functionalities 2. Perceptions current qualities of the intranet
Questionnaire
1. Demographic factors
2. Perceptions current and future intranet functionalities 3. Perceptions current intranet qualities 4. Percceptions intranet intranet ease of use and usefulness
5. Perceptions use of the intranet 6. Perceptions relational coordination
4.4
PLANNING OF DATA COLLECTION
4.5
SAMPLE
All employees of Lentis are part of the population of this study. In order to reach the entire population a questionnaire was sent by e-mail. However, before the questionnaire was sent, information about the questionnaire was spread throughout the organization by Yammer, an internal social media platform. The newspaper of the organization was also used to distribute information about intranet and the upcoming questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent out to all the 5530 e-mail accounts of the mental healthcare employees of Lentis. Some of the e-mail accounts were departments and not individual employees. Furthermore, no distinction is made between intranet users or non-intranet users. To generate a sufficient number of respondents the questionnaire is sent twice to all the employees via e-mail. The second e-mail was sent two weeks after the first e-mail and finally led to a total of 753 respondents of the population of 4327 (all Lentis employees).
4.6
DATA ANALYSIS
The research question is divided into sub-questions with their own constructs. To answer the research question, the relations between the constructs were tested in order to determine whether the variables that influence the relational coordination are significant.
To test the relations between the constructs of this study, some preconditions have to be met. In order to meet these preconditions the validity and the reliability were tested. First the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s Test is used. The KMO measures the sampling adequacy, which should be greater than 0.5 for a satisfactory factor analysis.
After the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Barlett’s test, a factors analysis was used. This method is used to describe correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of variables, called factors.
After the Factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha is used to check the internal consistency and the reliability. In other words, Cronbach’s alpha thus tests how closely related the set of items are as a group. With this Cronbach’s alpha analysis it is possible to find items that are acceptable for further analysis.
The paths between the constructs are analyzed by multiple regressions. The used steps are presented by Baron and Kenny (1986) to test mediational analysis.
5.
RESULTS
This is chapter presents the key results. First, a summary of the descriptive analysis is presented. Second, the current intranet situation is discussed. After that, the future intranet situation is discussed.
5.1
DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS
Table 2 shows the descriptive results of the response group of the survey. These results were compared with the population of Lentis. The departments HRM and E-health both checked these descriptive statistics with their information about all their Lentis employees. According to these departments, the respondents do not entirely reflect the population. The function groups: psychiatrist and psychologist were underrepresented in the survey. Too few employees of these departments answered the survey. The departments HRM and E-health explained that these function group could be combined into the group: ”therapist”. This is done because these functions have some overlap and because therapist is the overarching name for these function groups. Therefore the overarching name of therapist is in the results section of this thesis.
Table 2. Percentage of the Gender, Age, Years in organization, Education, Function, Department and Intranet visits in response group n Options Percent (%) Gender 747 Man Woman 31,46 68,54 Age 752 18 – 30 years 31 – 45 years 46 – 60 years > 60 years 14,89 28,46 49,7 6,91
Years in organization 752 < 3 years 3 – 5 years 6 – 10 years >10 years 13,96 15,56 17,95 52,53 Education 752 VMBO/MAVO HAVO VWO LBO MBO HBO WO Different 5,19 2,66 1,06 1,46 36,04 33,78 16,22 3,59 Functions 753 Therapist Management Nurse Staff employee Caring/Helping Support Different 16,04 7,56 19,17 10,04 10,95 20,47 15,78 Department 708 Dignis Forint Welnis Linis Jonx Concern DBO Vastgoed Concernstaf HRM CFC Anders 27,25 5,06 11,79 23,78 7,86 1,60 12,26 0,53 2,13 2,93 1,07 3,73
Intranet visits 750 I do not use the intranet Once a week or less 2-3 Times a week 4-5 Times a week Daily 4,13 23,04 30,36 11,58 30,89
The research question is about the current intranet functionalities and qualities and the desired future functionalities. The first part of the results section is about Lentis’ current intranet functionalities and intranet qualities and the second part is about the future intranet system of the organization.
Figure 8. The perceived usefulness of the current intranet functionalities
5.2
THE CURRENT INTRANET SYSTEM OF THE ORGANIZATION
“How can the functionalities and qualities of the intranet be improved so that employees can benefit more from using the intranet than in the current situation with regard to relational coordination”
The data in this section reflects the experiences of the employees with the current functionalities, qualities, the perceived usefulness, the perceived ease of use, the use of the intranet and the experiences of the relational coordination in the current intranet situation. Figure 7 shows the conceptual model of the current intranet situation.
5.2.1 THE CURRENT INTRANET FUNCTIONALITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION
The organization currently has seven different intranet functionalities, these functionalities have been explained earlier in the literature section about intranet functionalities. The employees of Lentis were asked what their experiences with these current intranet functionalities were. These experiences are based on the functionalities’ usefulness (figure 8).
Table 3 shows the means and standard deviations of the experiences with the perceived usefulness of the current intranet functionalities. The mean is based on a 7-point Likert scale, where 1 indicates that a respondent totally disagrees and 7 that a respondent totally agrees. (See Appendix 1 for the questionnaire.) The mean indicates the perceived usefulness of the current intranet functionalities. The standard deviation shows how much variation from the mean exists, thus, in this case how much variation exists of the perceived usefulness of the current intranet functionalities.
Table 4. Independent sample t-test of the usefulness of the current intranet functionalities by different departments and functions Table 3. The usefulness of the intranet functionalities and the one sample t-test with the test value =3
If a respondent answered the question with a 1, 2 or 3 on the 7-point Likert scale this indicated that they thought that the functionality is not useful. Following this assumption, a threshold is created. The sample t-test of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences(SPSS) is used to check if there are means that are lower than 3. Furthermore, only one side of the distribution is relevant, therefore the one-tailed t-test is used.The easiest way to convert a two-tailed test into a one-tailed test is to divide the p-value provided in the output in half. Table 3 shows that all the functionalities are significant (p=0,000), thus all the current intranet functionalities are regarded as useful.
The standard deviations of the experiences of the employees vary strongly when looking at all the current intranet functionalities (table 3). To explain these variations, we used the independent sample t-test of SPSS. With the independent sample t-t-test we try to explain the differences in the perceived usefulness of different department and functions of the employees (table 4).
Support departments Main care departments Functionalities current
intranet
n Mean Std. Dev. N Mean Std. Dev. Sig. (2-tailed)
Homepage 141 5,70 1,487 506 4,86 1,772 0,006* Care group Information 141 4,71 1,730 504 4,50 1,802 0,357 Vacancies 141 3,47 1,970 498 3,96 1,990 0,937 Search function 142 4,68 1,808 504 4,23 1,823 0,823 Telephone numbers 141 5,33 1,969 510 4,43 2,031 0,272 Declaration forms 141 4,45 2,086 504 4,55 1,943 0,143 Quality handbook 141 4,11 2,000 507 4,33 1,938 0,933
Management function Therapist function
Homepage 57 5,30 1,60 49 5,16 1,87 0,286 Care group Information 56 4,63 1,82 49 4,45 1,86 0,987 Vacancies 56 3,96 1,95 49 4,10 1,97 0,846 Search function 58 4,43 1,78 48 4,56 1,82 0,946 Telephone numbers 58 4,78 2,02 49 4,98 1,94 0,252 Declaration forms 58 4,19 2,01 49 4,96 2,02 0,758 Quality handbook 58 4,19 2,03 49 4,47 2,01 0,903
Functionalities current intranet n Mean St. dev T Sig. (1-tailed) Homepage 668 5,03 1,75 29,930 ,000*
Care group information 666 4,53 1,79 22,012 ,000*
Vacancies 660 3,83 1,98 10,758 ,000*
Search function 667 4,33 1,83 18,783 ,000*
Telephone number 671 4,63 2,05 20,602 ,000*
Declaration form 666 4,51 1,98 19,594 ,000*
Table 5. The perceived ease of use of the intranet qualities and the one sample t-test with the test value=3
Figure 9. The perceived ease of use of the current intranet functionalities
Table 4 shows that support departments have better experiences with the current homepage functionality on the intranet than employees in main care departments. Because this value (p=0,006) is less than p=0.05, we can conclude that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean of the homepage for the support and main care department. The p-values for the other functionalities are not less than 0.05, so there are no other significant differences between the means.
5.2.2
THE CURRENT INTRANET QUALITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION
The organization currently has seven different intranet qualities, these qualities have been explained earlier in the literature section about the intranet qualities. The employees of Lentis were asked what their experiences are with these current intranet qualities. These experiences were measured in terms of the perceived ease of use of the current intranet functionalities (figure 9).
Table 5 shows the experiences of the employees with the perceived ease of use of intranet’s current qualities. Again, the questions were based on a Likert-scale, with the same threshold of 3. Dividing the functionalities into two for the one-tailed t-test shows that all the qualities are p=0.000, thus the qualities are significant with the test value 3. In other words all the current intranet qualities are considered to be easy to use.
Qualities current intranet n Mean St. dev T Sig. (1-tailed) Overall quality 619 4,22 1,39 21,836 ,000* Interactivity 614 3,24 1,51 3,886 ,000* Navigation 617 3,74 1,47 12,413 ,000* Speed 618 3,91 1,41 15,899 ,000* Approachable 613 4,37 1,40 24,001 ,000* Encouragement management 616 3,83 1,43 14,417 ,000* Up-to-date 616 4,45 1,37 26,171 ,000*
5.3
THE BENEFITS TO RELATIONAL COORDINATION
The current intranet functionalities and qualities of Lentis’ intranet system are all considered useful. The next question is whether the intranet also contributes to the relational coordination (figure 7). So, do the current intranet qualities and functionalities positively influence the degree of the relational coordination? In order to test this, all the current intranet functionalities and qualities are combined into one variable to see if this benefits the relational coordination.
5.3.1
DATA REDUCTION
First, the numerical information of the study is corrected, simplified and ordered into meaningful parts. Therefore, we start with a factor analysis. The questions about the perceived usefulness of the current intranet functionalities, the perceived ease of use of the current intranet qualities, the perceived ease of use, the perceived usefulness and the relational coordination are all used in the factor analysis. The single question about the intranet use is not used in the factor analysis.
The KMO and Barlett’s test (Kaiser, 1974) show that it is justified to use a factor analysis. All the variable items are 0.932 together. Kaiser (1974) recommends regarding values greater than 0.5 as acceptable. Values between 0.5 and 0.7 are mediocre, values between 0.7 and 0.8 are good, values between 0.8 and 0.9 are great and values above 0.9 are superb. For the data of this research the value is 0.932, which falls into the range of being superb. This means that the factor analysis is appropriate to analyze the data. Also for this data, Bartlett’s measure test is highly significant (p < 0.000).
There are several things to consider about the format of the matrix of the factor analysis. Factor loadings less than 0.45 have not been displayed because these loadings are suppressed. Second, the items are loaded in order of size of their factor loadings. The next step was to look at the content of the questions that load onto the same factor and to identify the common themes. Initially, factor analysis identified five factors on which the items were loaded. In appendix 2, the entire factor analysis and the questionnaire with all the questions can be consulted.
Questions that load highly on factor 1 all seem to relate to the Degree of the current relational coordination. Therefore this factor is labeled Degree of the current relational coordination. The 7 items together generate α=0.831 (table 6). In the factor analysis, the items that load highly on factor 2 all seem to relate to Current intranet quality. Therefore this factor is labeled Current intranet quality. The
Table 6. The Cronbach’s alpha
items of the construct Current intranet quality ease of use generated α= 0.846 (table 6). The six items that load highly on factor 3 all seem to relate to Perceived Usefulness of the intranet. The items “efficiency” and “handy” both loaded also on Current intranet quality. For this reason these items are deleted in this factor. The four remaining items generated α= 0.898 (table 6). Questions that load highly on factor 4 all seem to relate to Perceived Ease of Use of the intranet. Not all the items loaded correctly. The item “usable” loaded on the component Current intranet quality as well. For this reason, this item is deleted. The other items together generated α= 0.931. The seven questions that load highly on factor 5 all seem to relate to Current intranet functionalities’ usefulness. The seven items generated α=0.831.
Construct Items Alpha 1 Items Alpha 2
Degree of the current relational coordination 7 0.831 6 0.825 Current intranet qualities ease of use 7 0.846 6 0.851 Perceived Usefulness of the intranet 4 0.898 3 0.892 Perceived Ease of Use of the intranet 4 0.931 3 0.925 Current intranet functionalities’ usefulness 7 0.831 6 0.825
Table 6 presents the value of Alpha (alpha 1) and the value that Cronbach’s alpha would be if a particular item was deleted from the scale based on the factor analysis (alpha 2). Table 6 shows that the removal of any question, for the perceived ease of use and current intranet qualities results in a higher Cronbach’s Alpha. Removal of these items leads to a small improvement in Cronbach’s alpha. Because this improvement is only so little so no further items are deleted.
5.4
THE MEDIATION EFFECTS THAT INFLUENCE THE RELATIONAL
COORDINATION
To investigate if the employees could benefit from the relational coordination caused by the intranet we need to look at mediation effects. Although there are many methods available that are concerned with intervening mediation effects, the most widely-used method is the causal steps approach popularized by Baron and Kenny (1986). This model is about X, M and Y. X is the dependent variable, M is the mediator and Y is the independent variable. Regression coefficient a is the relation between X and M. Regression coefficient b is the relation between M and Y. Regression coefficient c’ is the coefficient before controlling the relation between X and the relation between X. After controlling this path, the regression coefficient is called “c” (figure 10).
Figure 10. The mediation effect of the perceived usefulness of the intranet
between the current intranet functionalities and the use of the intranet
Table 7. The regression analysis of the dependent variable: use of the intranet
Table 8. The chi-square tests with the dependent variable: use of the intranet
If both a and b paths in a model are statistically significant and c’ is closer to zero than c, then M is deemed a mediator of the relationship between X and Y .Thus, the regression coefficient c’ has to be significant closer to zero than regression coefficient c. The conceptual model (figure 7) shows that there are four different paths that should be checked.
5.4.1
PATH 1
Does the perceived usefulness of the intranet influence the use of the actual intranet system with the perceived usefulness of the current intranet functionalities? In other words, does the Perceived usefulness of the intranet influence the relation between the Current intranet functionalities’ usefulness and the Use of the intranet? In order to test this, we define X: current intranet functionalities’ usefulness, Y: use of the intranet and Mediator: perceived usefulness of the intranet.
Before the Baron and Kenny approach can be executed, the control variables have to be tested. The regression analysis and chi-square analysis are performed to check whether for control variables influence the dependent variable. The simultaneous method (SPSS calls this the Enter method) is used to test these variables. Gender, Age, Years of active work, Department and Function employee were included as control variables. The departmental distinction between “Main care departments” and “Support departments” is also used. In this case, there is one control variable with two categories. The dummy variable “Main care departments” is used in the regression analysis. Furthermore, a functional distinction between “Management functions” and “Therapist functions” is made. Again a dummy variable is used, in this case: Management functions.
Control variable Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients T Sig. (2-tailed) B Std. Error Beta
Gender -,025 ,099 -,009 -,249 ,803
Age -,024 ,064 -,016 -,375 ,708
Years of active work ,086 ,047 ,076 1,818 ,069
Value Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Management Pearson Chi-Square 55,020a ,000* Main care department Pearson Chi-Square 22,705a ,000*
Current intranet functionalities’ usefulness
Perceived usefulness of the intranet
Table 9. Path 1 of the mediation effect of the perceived usefulness between the current intranet
functionalities and the use of the intranet
The chi-square test presented a significant (p=0,000) influence of the Management functions on the Use of the intranet and a significant (p=0,000) influence of the Main care departments on the Use of the intranet. Other control variables are not tested as significant.
The four step approach of Baron and Kenny shows that the regression coefficient (c’) is 0,282, after having controlled the control variables. This value is significant (p=0,000). The current intranet functionalities’ usefulness seems to have a significant effect on the use of the intranet. The regression coefficient of “a” is 0,274, this value is significant (p=0,000). The current intranet functionalities’ usefulness does have a significant effect on the perceived usefulness of the intranet. The regression coefficient b equals -0,116, this is again a significant value (p=0,025). There is a negative correlation effect, which means that if the values of the perceived usefulness of the intranet increase, the values of the use of the intranet decrease
.
Table 9 shows that c=0,250, a significant value. This is the mediation effect from the perceived usefulness of the intranet between the current intranet functionalities and the use of the intranet. In this case a, b and c are significant, which indicates that there is a mediation effect. However, c’ is not closer to zero than c, which means there is a partial mediation effect.The perceived usefulness of the intranet partially influences the individual use of the intranet system with the usefulness of the current intranet functionalities. If the perceived usefulness of the intranet increases, the use of the intranet decreases.
Path Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients T Sig. B Std. Error Beta c’ ,282 ,053 ,216 5,144 ,000* A ,274 ,053 ,218 5,144 ,000* B -,116 ,054 -,091 -2,137 ,025* C ,250 ,052 ,199 4,779 ,000*
5.4.2
PATH 2
A second question that needs to be addressed is whether the Use of the intranet influences the relation between the Degree of the relational coordination and the Perceived usefulness of the current intranet? Therefore, we define X: perceived usefulness of the intranet, Y: the degree of the relational coordination and Mediator: use of the intranet (figure 11).
Figure 11. The mediation effect of the use of the intranet between the perceived
usefulness of the intranet and the degree of the relational coordination
Table 10. Regression analysis with the dependent variable: relational coordination
Table 11. The chi-square tests with the dependent variable: relational coordination
Again, the regression analysis and the chi-square test were executed to check which control variables influence the dependent variable. Again, only the department main care and function management are used as control variables. The regression analysis (table 10) presented a negative significant (p=0.015) influence from “Age” on the Relational Coordination. This means that the degree of the relational coordination decreases when regarding older employees. The chi-square test (table 11) presented a significant (p=0.000) influence of “Management functions” on the Degree of the Relational Coordination. This means that the degree of the relational coordination is influenced by employees in management functions.
Control variable Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients T Sig. B Std. Error Beta
Gender -,132 ,103 -,061 -1,282 ,200
Years of active work ,078 ,048 ,088 1,628 ,104
Age -,162 ,066 -,132 -2,447 ,015*
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Management Pearson Chi-Square 22,705a 4 ,000* Main care department Pearson Chi-Square 498,000 a 497 ,479
The Baron and Kenny analysis (table 12) shows that the first regression coefficient (c’) is 0,208, which is a significant value (p=0,000). The perceived usefulness of the intranet does have a significant effect on the use of the intranet. The second regression coefficient is a = -0,041. This value is not significant (p=0,425). The perceived usefulness does not have a significant effect on the relational coordination. The regression coefficient is b equals -0,029, this is a non-significant value (p=0,407). Table 12 shows that c=0,210, which is a significant value. In this case a and b are not significant.
Therefore, there is no evidence that the perceived usefulness of the intranet influences the degree of the relational coordination with the influence of the usefulness of the current intranet. However, if the perceived usefulness of the intranet increases, the degree of relational coordination increases.
Degree of the relational coordination Perceived usefulness of the
intranet
