Factors adoption of Facebook in the workplace Cameroon

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1 Factors adoption of Facebook in the workplace Cameroon Indicate Submission Type: Full papers Bazomanza Nzabandora Wilfried Université Catholique de Bukavu Samuel Fosso Wamba NEOMA Business School, France Jean Robert Kala Kamdjoug Université Catholique d Afrique Centrale jrkala@gmail.com Abstract Information and communication technologies (ICT) are very important to the persons and organizations that used them, because of the services they provide. They give them the possibility to automate and improve the performance of their activities. With the Web 2.0, it was possible to create a particular type of ICT known as a Social Network with Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, YouTube and Skype as examples. The usage and the speed of the Social Networks give the opportunity to guaranty a better ways of sharing information between users. During this study, our focus was on the Facebook social network. The recognized functionalities of this particular social network makes him popular in our society. The phenomenon is very present in the Cameroonian professional sector where people are using it. The goal of this study is to analyze the factors that influence the usage of this social network on the Cameroonian professional environment. Keyword ICT, Social Network, Acceptance, Facebook. Introduction The information and communications technology (ICT) tools designate (infrastructure or software) used in the production, processing and transmission of information (Besnard et al. 2008). It is about a set containing elements such as: computers, modems, telephones, fax, mobile phones, GPS, computer networks, internet, local area network, word area network, and software. Among these technologies, computers and the Internet are the most used categories (Castells 1998). With the Internet, information exchange has been made possible between several resources regardless of their geographical positions. Checking of information (Web sites), , forums, e-commerce, are some examples of services offered by the Internet. The advent of Web 2.0has made possible the design of platforms for dynamic web sites among which we find those that offer so-called social features for users called social media. These refer to web sites (such as Facebook and Twitter), blogs and forums that allow the instant creation and sharing of online content generated by users (Jenine K et al. 2013). Compared to traditional communication media, social media are low cost, achieve a more focused audience and facilitate dialogue between the senders and recipients of the information. Social networks allow given set of users to create a virtual community, to offer the opportunity for its users to stay in touch with each other, learn, share knowledge, build communities, share photos or videos, distribute documents, develop business relationships, find jobs or recruit, to the dissemination and promotion of events, etc. They constitute the most used category of social media (Berger and Micheau 2013). We are living in a digital age where information flows quickly and is instantly accessible and the use of these different media is becoming an imperative for achieving this goal. Organizations whose activities are gathering and disseminating information can improve their performance by making recourse to the use of different social networks. The latter gives them the Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego,

2 opportunity to have access to an abundant amount of information and better communicate with the public in record time. In the African continent in general and Cameroon in particular, the number of users of the Facebook social network increases exponentially with the availability and affordability of the internet connection on the entire Cameroonian territory. Understanding this phenomenon requires us to meet the specific research question of seeking and analyzing factors that would influence the adoption of the Facebook social network in Cameroon workplace. It is clear that in the present study focuses on the factors that motivate the use of the Facebook social network in general that is to say without any categorization. Model Design and Research hypothesis The construction of our theoretical model mainly uses two major theories, namely the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of reasoned action (TRA). The description of the different constructs used in the model is shown in Table 1. Construct Definitions Sources Perceived usefulness Ease of use Intended use The perceived use fullness is defined as the degree to which a person believes that the use of this system will improve performance at work The perception of Ease of Use is defined as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort Intended use refers to the perceived probability of a person or of the subjective probability of a person to engage in a particular behavior. (Davis 1989) (Davis 1989) (Venkatesh and Davis 1996) Attitude to use Perception of social presence Perceived Feedback Received Image The attitude toward a behavior reflects favorable or unfavorable feelings of a person vis-à-vis a behavior. It is formed, firstly, by beliefs about engaging in a behavior and secondly, by assessing the consequences of such a commitment Social presence reflects the feeling of being with another intelligent being (Biocca, et al., 2003) or the feeling of warmth and sociability a medium offers, as perceived by its users (Kumar, and Benbasat, 2016) Feedback is a form of verbal or nonverbal exchange (Spink 1997) that can be in the form of a comparison of one with other people, comparison of one s performance standards or goals, demonstration of how performance has changed over time, or demonstration of how others view one s performance. (London et al. 1999) Image is described as the "overall impression" left on the minds of customers, a "gestalt", and an "idiosyncratic cognitive configuration" (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980) (Williams, and Christie 1976) (Zeynep et al. 2011) (Mazursky and Jacoby 1986) Table 1. Definition of the constructs of the theoretical model Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego,

3 The social network Facebook is used by many people because of the image that they have of this social network. This like the other networks becomes increasingly a privileged medium of exchange within specific groups (Barbe and Delcroix 2008). Indeed, individuals regularly post photos, videos and make comments on the publications made on this social network. In return, they receive the comments of other users on their publications in the form of comments. The quality of these comments will greatly determine the image receptors publications have on this social network. Which brings us to the following hypothesis? H1: the perception of the comments received influences positively the image that people have of the use of the social network Facebook. The perception of the human presence in using the Facebook social network significantly influences the image that people have of this social network. Indeed, this human presence is felt through the instantaneous exchange made by different users (Dang Nguyen and Lethiais 2013). This phenomenon contributes to the creation of a virtual community of social ties. This leads us to the next hypothesis: H2: The perception of social presence influences positively the image that people have about the use of social network Facebook. The attitude towards the use of technology is the most time influenced by the consideration that a person on such technology (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980). This consideration determines the image that this person has the technology it uses. This principle is also true for all the social networks and in particular the social network Facebook. Hence the hypothesis: H3: The image that people have of the social network Facebook positively influences their attitude towards the use of the social network Facebook. In general, the use of a technology provides some benefit to users. These are a number of advantages when operating such technology. The importance of this utility significantly influences the attitude of individuals to make use of technology (Rogers 1995). The perceived usefulness of the social network Facebook makes it indispensable in the life of organizations and individuals and affects their attitude as to its use. Hence the following hypothesis: H4: The perceived usefulness of the social network Facebook influences positively the attitude towards the use of social network Facebook. The use of technology is a function for most time of its ability to be assimilated without much effort by its users (Davis et al. 1989). The complexity in the use of a technology generally results in rejection. Many studies have shown that more technology presents an ease of use, the more it is adopted without difficulty. This is the case of the Facebook social network where users do not experience difficulty in its use and ease significantly influences the attitude of the users towards the use of this network. This brings us to the following hypothesis. H5: The ease of use of the social network Facebook positively influences the attitude to the use of this social network. We have shown the importance of perceived usefulness in the use of technology. This utility is also another important factor in the effective use of the said technology. Indeed, individuals choose to use technology because they latter provides a number of advantages (Rogers 1995). This is the case of the Facebook social network to which the utility is recognized for its users. From the above, we make the following assumption: H6: The perceived usefulness of the social network Facebook positively influences the intention to use this social network Similarly, the use of a technology is significantly influenced by its level of complexity in operation. The more technology is less complex (Davis 1989), the more it is used by many people. This brings us to the following hypothesis: H7: The ease of use of Facebook has a positive influence on the intention to use. The attitude towards the use of technology is a key factor in the use of the latter (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980). It is this attitude that dictates the behavior of users on the use of technology. Hence the hypothesis: Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego,

4 H8: Attitude to the use of social network Facebook has a significant influence on the intention to use Recourse to the use of a technology depends on the image that people have about that technology. If they get a bad image of the specified technology, they will reject it and will no more use it in their daily activities. The good image of the Facebook social network with individuals explains the high rate of use by them (Barbe and Delcroix 2008). From the above, we make the following assumption: H9: The image that people have of the social network Facebook, defines their intention to use it. Perceived ease of used H6 Perceived feedback received H1 H9 H5 Intention to use Perceived social presence H2 Image H3 Attitude toward using H4 H8 H7 Perceived usefulness Research methodology Figure 1. Theoretical model of the Research In this study, we have mainly used a quantitative approach. This approach is based on instruments or quantitative research techniques for data collection. It results in figures that make descriptive analyzes, tables and graphs, statistical analysis of research links between the variables or factors, correlation analysis and association (Couvreur and Lehuede 2002). This approach allowed us to gather clear and observable data to test the assumptions of our theoretical model. This study was conducted in November 2014 in Cameroon. We used a questionnaire to collect data. All items in our questionnaire were assessed on a Likert scale with seven levels (Camille and Gaston 1999). Our target consists of 142 people who use the social network Facebook in the workplace, distributed as follows: 80 students from the Catholic University of Central Africa and 62 professionals in Yaoundé. A delay of one week was given to the participants to fill out questionnaires. At the end of the week we received 142 questionnaires and all were usable. The investigation began November 15 and ended December 18 to be a period of 34 days. For the analysis and processing of collected data, we used mainly two programs: SPSS (version 15.0 Student) was used for data encoding and implementation descriptive statistics of our sample. The XLSTAT-PLS software (version ) allowed us to assess the adequacy of the theoretical model and verification of its hypotheses. Results This section presents the results of our study after proper processing of data collected in the field. The use of tables can present the results in a more clear and understandable way. Descriptive statistics of the respondents The demographic profile of the respondents is presented in Table 1. This table shows that respondents are made up of 56.3% men and 43.7% women. Approximately 83.8% of respondents have a bachelor degree and 12.7% have master level. Most of the respondents live in the city (83.1%) with a small percentage of those living in rural areas (3.5%). 35.9% of respondents have more than 10 years experience in the use of the computer. Fewer respondents have little experience with computer use (0.7%). 65.5% of respondents Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego,

5 occupy the top management function. In terms of Internet use, 45.1% of respondents use the Internet several times a day. Demographic profile Number Frequency Cumulative frequency Education Gender Residence Master degree 18 12,7 96,5 Bachelor degree ,8 83,8 Secondary 1 0,7 97,9 Techniques 3 2,1 100,0 Informal 1 0,7 97,2 Woman 62 43,7 43,7 Man 80 56,3 100,0 Metropolis ,1 83,1 Regional 19 13,4 96,5 Rural 5 3,5 100,0 More than 10 years 51 35,9 100,0 Between 8 and 10 year 28 19,7 63,4 Between 6 and 8 year 28 19,7 43,7 Computer experience Between 4 and 6 years 19 13,4 23,9 Between 2 and 4 year 7 4,9 10,6 Between 1 and 2 years 8 5,6 5,6 Less than 1 year 1 0,7 64,1 Position Status Administrative 8 5,6 5,6 Middle-grade manager 16 11,3 16,9 Supervisor 11 7,7 24,6 Technics 14 9,9 34,5 Top management 93 65,5 100,0 Full time 33 23,2 23,2 Homemaker 1 0,7 23,9 Part time 6 4,2 28,2 Retired 1 0,7 28,9 Student 97 68,3 97,2 Unemployed 4 2,8 100,0 Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego,

6 Internet usage About once a week 50 35,2 100,0 At least once a month but less than once a week 64 45,1 64,8 Less than once a month 12 8,5 19,7 Once a day 1 0,7 11,3 Several times a day 3 2,1 10,6 Several times a week, but not 12 every day 8,5 8,5 Table 2. Respondent demographics profile Table 3 presents the descriptive statistics of the manifest variables of our population: the minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation. Latent variables PFR PSP IMG PU PEOU ATT Manifest variables Observations Minimum Maximum Mean Standard deviation PFR ,000 7,000 5,500 1,373 PFR ,000 7,000 5,458 1,303 PFR ,000 7,000 5,366 1,366 PFR ,000 7,000 5,183 1,447 PSP ,000 7,000 4,923 1,761 PSP ,000 7,000 4,218 1,769 PSP ,000 7,000 5,423 1,503 PSP ,000 7,000 4,359 1,717 PSP ,000 7,000 4,634 1,651 IMG ,000 7,000 3,676 1,806 IMG ,000 7,000 3,035 1,962 PU ,000 7,000 5,303 1,588 PU ,000 7,000 2,725 1,789 PU ,000 7,000 2,451 1,726 PU ,000 7,000 2,338 1,653 PU ,000 7,000 2,908 1,975 PEOU ,000 7,000 5,711 1,309 PEOU ,000 7,000 5,901 1,329 PEOU ,000 7,000 6,141 1,085 ATT ,000 7,000 5,317 1,345 ATT ,000 7,000 4,655 1,575 ATT ,000 7,000 5,218 1,333 Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego,

7 IU ATT ,000 7,000 5,592 1,246 IU ,000 7,000 4,754 1,888 IU ,000 7,000 5,324 1,630 IU ,000 7,000 4,437 1,774 IU ,000 7,000 5,148 1,649 Table 3. Descriptive statistics of manifest variables model Table 4 presents the factor-loadings, the Cronbach s values alpha, composite reliability and average of the extracted variance of the model. All the values in the table, are respectively above the thresholds of acceptability normally 0.6; 0.7; 0.7and0. 5 (Guadagnoli and Velicer 1988).What justifies the relevance of the constructs used in our theoretical model. Latent variable PFR PSP IMG PU PEOU ATT Manifest variables Factorloadings >0.6 PFR1 0,814 PFR2 0,874 PFR3 0,853 PFR4 0,838 PSP1 0,637 PSP2 0,614 PSP3 0,707 PSP4 0,882 PSP5 0,874 IMG1 0,909 IMG2 0,849 PU1 0,530 PU2 0,774 PU3 0,776 PU4 0,806 PU5 0,671 PEOU1 0,829 PEOU2 0,746 PEOU3 0,832 ATT1 0,778 ATT2 0,730 ATT3 0,881 ATT4 0,759 Cronbach s alpha >0.7 Rho of D.G. (ACP) >0.7 AVE > IU IU1 0, Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego,

8 IU2 0,841 IU3 0,751 IU4 0,681 Table 4. Factor loadings, Cronbach s alpha, Rho de D.G. (ACP) and AVE of the model To confirm the discriminant validity, the average variance shared between the construct and its indicators should be greater than the variance shared between the built and other built. As indicated in Table 5, all constructions share more variance with their indicators that other constructions. PFR PSP IMG PU PEOU ATT IU Average commonalities (AVE) PFR 1 0,150 0,032 0,060 0,111 0,243 0,231 0,714 PSP 0, ,121 0,152 0,044 0,226 0,135 0,565 IMG 0,032 0, ,150 0,001 0,077 0,092 0,774 PU 0,060 0,152 0, ,002 0,185 0,160 0,549 PEOU 0,111 0,044 0,001 0, ,038 0,046 0,647 ATT 0,243 0,226 0,077 0,185 0, ,361 0,623 IU 0,231 0,135 0,092 0,160 0,046 0, ,598 Table 5. Discriminant validity Model adjustment quality (GoF) The value of the absolute GoF (0394) shows a better fit of the model with data (cf. Table 5). Also worth GoF on or above 0.8 also shows an excellent fit of the model with sample data (Rahimnia and Hassanzadeh 2013). Discussion of findings GoF Absolu 0,398 Relatif 0,825 Table 5. The values of the Good fit Figure 2 shows the results of the structural model derived from the pricing PLSPM. Reading these results shows that all the coefficients are positive, confirming the first sense assumptions of our theoretical model. The image that people have of the Facebook social network is more strongly influenced by the perception of social presence on this social network. There was, however a small influence of perception related to comments received on the image that people have of the Facebook network. This image in turn influences the attitude of users to use the Facebook network use. Also, the same analyzes show that this attitude to the use of Facebook is explained by the perceived usefulness and ease of use of the Facebook network.finally, the intention to use the social network Facebook is explained primarily by three factors, namely: ease of use, perceived usefulness and attitude of users regarding the use of this social network. We also stress the weak influence of the picture on the intention of using the social network Facebook. These results allow us to state all assumptions. Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego,

9 *:p<0.1 **: p<0.01 ***:p<0.001 Figure 2. Results of the structural model with XLSTAT-PLSPM Implications and Conclusion The information and communications technology have significantly improved significantly the method of management of organizations and relationships between people. The features they offer significantly expanded their scope. In fact, most organizations exploit them in order to achieve the performance, and remain competitive in their industries. From today, organizations and individuals constantly resort to the use of a particular type of ICT namely social networks, the most used are Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, Twitter, etc. This has focused on the social network Facebook. She tried to explain the factors that influence the use of social networking in the workplace in Cameroon. To achieve this goal, we have developed throughout our study a theoretical model justifying the use of the Facebook network after a review of literature on the models and theories of acceptance and diffusion of technology. Hypothesis testing the theoretical model was made following a quantitative approach. The results of our study have shown that the image that people have of the Facebook social network is strongly influenced by the perception of social presence associated with this social network. Similarly, the authors Jaewon et al.(2009) in their study focusing on The influence of social presence on evaluating personalized recommender systems confirms the significant influence of the perception of social presence on the intended use of an information system. The image that people have of this network in turn influences the attitude of people towards the use of Facebook. The same study revealed that the perceived usefulness of Facebook is a factor that justifies significantly the attitude of people towards the use of Facebook It should be noted that the ease of use of Facebook is a second factor that determines the attitude of individuals against the use of Facebook. Finally, the intention of using the Facebook social network is influenced in order of importance by the attitude towards the use, perceived usefulness and ease of use of the Facebook network. The influence of perceived usefulness and ease of use of technology has also been demonstrated by the authors Niina et al. (2008)in their study of the impact of the context of useofn the acceptance of mobile services for a mobile ticketing. Similarly, the importance of these two factors was confirmed by Kee-Young et Jae-Nam (2008) in their study The role of readiness for change in ERP implementation: Theoretical bases and empirical validation. Theoretically, this study presents a model for justifying the use of the Facebook social network in Cameroon workplace. This model can be exploited for further studies that address the research on factor influencing thread option of social networking. In practical terms, this study presents a framework that shows the factors that act to ensure the integration of the Facebook network in the Cameroon workplace as this network provides an efficient means of exchanging information between people who exploit. Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego,

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