Investigating the Effect of Online and Offline Workplace Communication Networks on Employees’ Job Performance: Considering the Role of Culture

Although many researchers have investigated the implications of information technology on people, business, and the environment, most of these studies have focused on developed countries. According to some researchers, IT strategies and organizational outcomes would be significantly different across countries due to existing structural and cultural differences. As such, this research project makes use of social network theory to investigate the varying consequences of IT strategies on job performance, distinguishing the impact of online and offline communication networks. As culture is an essential element in explaining how people interact through communication networks, the role of different cultural factors has been examined further. The results of a field study among 104 information analysts indicated that offline direct, offline indirect, and online direct ties all had a significant impact on their job performance. Moreover, the result of a field study among 50 experts indicated that the achievement motive was the most important among employees, followed by effective cultural factors on IT usage and generalizability.