Information sharing in a hybrid workplace: understanding
the role of ease-of-use perceptions of communication
technologies in advice-seeking relationship maintenance

Information sharing in a hybrid workplace: understanding
the role of ease-of-use perceptions of communication
technologies in advice-seeking relationship maintenance

Keywords: media multiplexity theory, relationship maintenance, advice networks, communication technology, hybrid work, SAOMs

Shifts to hybrid work prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic have the potential to substantially impact social relationships at work. Hybrid
employees rely heavily on digital collaboration technologies to communicate and share information. Therefore, employees’ perceptions of the

technologies are critical in shaping organizational networks. However, the dyadic-level misalignment in these perceptions may lead to relation-
ship dissolution. To explore the social network consequences of hybrid work, we conducted a two-wave survey in a department of an industrial

manufacturing firm (N 1⁄4 169). Our results show that advice seekers were less likely to maintain their advice-seeking ties when they had a
mismatch in ease-of-use perceptions of technology with their advisors. The effect was more substantial when advice seekers spent more
time working remotely. The study provides empirical insights into how congruence in employees’ perceptions of organizational communication
technologies affects how they maintain advice networks during hybrid work.

Y. Jasmine Wu 1,*, Brennan Antone 2,3, Leslie DeChurch 1

, Noshir Contractor

https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmad025

11 May 2023

PERI IRAWAN

PDF

ENGLISH

TEXT