Moderating the risk of intragroup conflict on task performance through digital information fluency in the enterprise social media context

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the interplay of digital information fluency (DIF) on the association between intragroup conflict and task performance (TP) in the context of enterprise social media (ESM). Extant research highlights the impact of intragroup conflict dimensions on group outcomes, yet there remains a lack of knowledge on the intervention of DIF among group members when intragroup conflict occurs within an extensive digital information environment such as an ESM environment. Lately, variance in DIF in the virtual environment has emerged as a variable that might affect the association between intragroup conflict and TP. The impact of globalisation and advanced technologies on the workplace may be one reason for the changing forms of work and add fresh ground for conflict, yet such a transformation might reveal a gap in the DIF levels of co-workers, which could lead to social categorisation and eventually intragroup conflict. The author adopts the conflict-distraction theory (DCT) supported by organisational modification behaviour theory (OMBT) as a theoretical basis for developing a theoretical model. An online questionnaire was developed for this study to extract empirical data. The sample size was (n = 389) employees within an international communication organisation’s headquarter located in the Kingdom of Bahrain. This research is explanatory in nature and based on a theory testing lens. Structure equation modelling (SEM) was implemented to analyse the data. Within the ESM environment, this research found that DIF positively moderates the association between certain intragroup conflict dimensions (task conflicts (TC), relationship conflicts (RC) and process conflicts (PC)) with TP. Interestingly, DIF negatively moderates the association between status conflicts (SC) and TP. In short, this research detects that high DIF mitigates misunderstanding during communication and sharing information in digital format through ESM, which ultimately alleviates intragroup conflict at digital environments. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the moderator role of DIF in intragroup conflict situations within an ESM environment.