Enhancing employee creativity with enterprise social media: a psychological insights approach

Abstract

Enterprise social media (ESM) represents an emerging technological tool that may assist employees in navigating workplace uncertainties. The present study investigates the relationship between ESM affordances and individual creativity, framed within the context of affordance theory. The research develops a model that elucidates how four key ESM affordances—visibility, association, editability, and persistence—affect creativity through three psychological conditions: psychological meaningfulness, availability, and safety. Utilizing primary data collected from 391 participants (226 male, 165 female) who engage with ESM in their professional environments. Specifically, the outcomes illustrated that visibility and association affordance are positively connected to psychological meaningfulness and availability, but have no relation with psychological safety. Affordance of Persistence is significantly related to psychological safety, and has an insignificant relation with psychological meaningfulness, and availability. Affordance of editability is significantly related to psychological meaningfulness, meaningfulness, availability, and psychological safety. Furthermore, results indicate that psychological meaningfulness, availability, and psychological safety have a significant influence on worker creativity. The current study advances the prior ESM literature by exploring the causes and implications of employee psychological states in the contexts of ESM and creativity.

Introduction

A rapid expansion of digital technologies in the digital age formulates the various possibilities for the development of companies and their workers. Enterprise social media (ESM), a web-based collaboration and communication system, has become extensively used by firms due to its numerous advantages [1, 2], such as reduced communications expenses and increased productivity and profitability [3], and has captured the interest from scholars [4–6]. The ESM platform provides distinct features that differentiate it from conventional information and communication technologies [7, 8]. For example, ESM users can observe colleagues’ conversations and recognize their connections, making it easier to access and share technical knowledge [9]. Moreover, ESM use improves employee communication and greatly increases their creativity [10], a key advantage in a competitive workplace [11]. Accordingly, employee creativity can be referred as the generation of innovative and productive ideas involving products and services, practices, or procedures in organizations [12]. Prior scholars discovered that employee creativity is extremely important for both the survival and productiveness of organizations [13, 14]. The majority of organizations concentrate considerably on worker creativity to maintain a competitive advantage and adaptation [14]. For example, Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Apple stimulate individuals to generate unique and productive ideas. Considering the significance of employee creativity for corporations [15], academics in relevant domains have focused on several strategies to promote employee creativity [12]. In the context of scholarly research, even substantial research focus on the consequences of ESM usage on worker creativity [14, 16], theoretical knowledge related to the causal connection between ESM usage and worker creativity has remained unclear in various ways.

First, previous studies on the connection between ESM and worker creativity primarily focus on the influence from the lens of ESM usage [17], which can be outlined as the extent to which ESM is used for conversation and information exchange [18, 19]. This type of investigation conceals disparities in how individuals utilize ESM and consequently the variations in the consequence of ESM use on creativity. It has been observed that similar technologies are used independently by workers in dissimilar companies or by a similar group inside the same company [20]. As a result, distinguishing between various approaches of employing ESM for analyzing employee creativity is critical. Furthermore, recent research concluded that ESM affordance may present the prospect of more closely examining the connections between ESM usage and individual outcomes in organizations [13, 21]. For example, Ellison, Gibbs [22] proposed that ESM affordances may strengthen the exchange of information by facilitating how workers locate expertise and appropriate content. Leonardi [9] asserted that ESM affordances may encourage knowledge sharing by keeping colleagues’ discussions visible to casual viewers. As a consequence, affordance lens provides the opportunity to understand more deeply the connection between ESM usage and employee creativity. Affordance relates to the possibilities made available to individuals by technological features of the environment [4, 23]. In comparison to ESM usage, affordance is a better perspective for understanding how, why, and when ESM use contributes to new ideas since it assists in clarifying why individuals utilizing similar technology may participate in similar or distinct work practices, resulting in different results. Considering the distinct features of this theoretical structure, theorizing the linkages between ESM affordance and employee creativity is adequate. As a result, present research examined the consequences of four ESM affordances that included visibility, association, persistence and editability on employee creativity.

Second, recent studies on employee creativity mainly concentrate on the consequence of organizations’ ESM usage [12], knowledge exchange [13], and work stress [14]. However, the significance of psychological factors as a work environment element that may influence employee creativity has attracted little consideration with inconsistent findings. According to prior studies, the creative process requires cognitive, psychological, and social resources to proactively engage in creative and innovative tasks. Prior studies also indicate that work environment, emotional states, and motivational factors are essential for individual involvement and engagement in creative and innovative behaviors [24]. Past studies also show that strengthening three psychological conditions leads to higher workplace engagement and better performance [3, 25]. Moreover, studies emphasize the critical role of psychological factors in fostering employee creativity. To enhance creativity, employees need sufficient psychological resources. In this context, Enterprise Social Media (ESM) plays a crucial role by offering employees the tools to access resources and build social connections [4], which can positively impact their psychological well-being and creativity. ESM’s diverse features allow employees to engage in both work-related and social activities, but the way these different types of ESM usage influence psychological conditions and subsequently affect creativity is not yet fully understood. When workers feel confident and recognize psychological meaningfulness, psychological availability, and psychological safety, their behavior and motives are stimulated, leading to a sequence of productive outputs and they generate innovative ideas. Second, past research addressed the influence of ESM affordance on worker efficiency and agility, but not on creativity. Limited attempt has been made in literature to explore the relationship between psychological conditions and creativity. Therefore, the present study investigates the role of ESM affordance on employee creativity through psychological conditions.

The present study aims to address the abovementioned research gaps in the literature on ESM and analyze the relation between ESM affordance and employee creativity through psychological meaningfulness, availability, and safety. The present study extends the extent ESM research in several ways. First, this study sheds light on ESM affordance which is insufficiently explored in the prior literature. Second, current research enriches the psychological literature by examining the consequence of ESM affordance on psychological meaningfulness, availability, and safety. Third, by exploring how ESM affordances affect worker creativity, this research advances existing studies on the factors that promote employee creativity while also providing deeper information and empirical evidence for employee creativity.

Literature review and theoretical background

Affordance theory

Gibson [26] developed the affordance theory, and focused his perception of investigation on the interactions between individuals or animals and their environments of existence. Accordingly, Gibson [26] observed that humans do not recognize what an object is, but instead sense the benefit it provides, and referred to the usefulness offered by the thing as an “affordance.” It is not related to either the technology or the end user but to the interrelationship between the objectives of the individual and the capacities of the technology [27]. Specifically, affordance emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between the characteristics of the technology and the activities that may be performed. In general, affordances are not unique attributes of items or persons, but emerge through interactions between the characteristics of the object, the person’s opinions, and specific organizational environments [4, 28]. Affordance theory has been employed to investigate how the integration of technological and organizational aspects may produce opportunities that influence organizational innovation and job performance [2, 29]. Affordance Theory emphasizes that employees’ psychological states depend on their perceptions of the resources and opportunities available to them within their environment. These affordances, in turn, shape how employees experience and interact with their work, influencing their creativity, engagement, and overall well-being. These conditions can be explained as affordances within the work environment, offering employees the opportunity to engage in certain actions or experiences that foster positive psychological outcomes. In terms of Affordance Theory, the work environment can offer affordances that enable employees to find meaning in their work. Work environment can also offer affordances for creating a safe space where employees can feel secure in their interactions. In addition, Affordance Theory helps explain how the environment can offer opportunities for employees to feel emotionally and mentally prepared to engage with their work. Specifically, employees perceive that the organization provides the necessary support and resources (e.g., tools, time, breaks, and training), they will feel that their environment affords them the capacity to engage with their tasks fully. This enables them to be more present and effective in their roles.

The affordance perspective is extensively used by information systems (IS) scholars and is considered a more extensive and useful approach for investigating how, why, and when the usage of information technology is causing changes in the work process [4, 21]. For example, Chen, Wei [21] based on affordance theory examined the connection between ESM affordance and employee work performance through social network ties. Similarly, Sun (2020), examined the connection between ESM affordance and employee creativity through knowledge transfer. Luqman, Masood [29] also discussed the connection between ESM affordance and cyber-slacking through social bonding. Duan, Deng [30] analyzed the consequences of digital work on worker efficiency from technological affordance. Affordance Theory emphasizes that employees’ psychological states depend on their perceptions of the resources and opportunities available to them within their environment. These affordances, in turn, shape how employees experience and interact with their work, influencing their creativity, engagement, and overall well-being. In line with previous IS studies, the theory of affordance in the present study pertains to the actions that a technology provides to humans.

Enterprise social media (ESM) affordance

Following the work of Treem and Leonardi [23] ESM affordance can be categorized as visibility, association, persistence, and editability. Accordingly, visibility is associated with worker capacity to present their actions, knowledge, and network connections apparent to others. Several studies have determined that visibility has an important role in shaping employee behavior. For example, With ESM visibility workers can view personal information and virtual discussions of their peers at any moment [31, 32], permitting workers to specifically establish interpersonal connections and deliberately contribute information. Prior literature suggested that EMS visibility facilitates individuals to improve their meta-knowledge by observing the other convection [1, 33]. Visibility also promotes the possibilities of collaboration, social connection with others, information exchange, and improved work performance [34].

Association affordance describes the pre-existing ties between individuals or between workers and content enabled by EMS usage [13, 35]. It strengthens workers’ social relationships, develops social capital, and increases community awareness by establishing an exchange of information and connection link between individuals and fellow workers [36]. Specifically, association affordance increases the possibility for employees to readily acquire work-related information more easily. Editability affordance relates to the potential for workers to make changes, transform, and update content that they have previously conveyed or that has been delivered by other people [21], such as eliminating content or modifying a document. Editability affordance is also proposed to efficiently promote the amount of posts published in ESM since it enables workers and other coworkers to make changes and update information repeatedly [3]. Persistence affordance is described as the ESM capability of permitting individuals to consistently retrieve previously composed and published work [33, 37]. Persistence enables employees to prevent workplace tensions and disputes since every exchange of information on ESM is documented, and as a consequence, task transparency becomes detectable [38].

Presently, several studies theoretically examine the influence of ESM affordances for companies and employees, providing an analytical framework for us to figure out how affordance related to creativity. Nevertheless, when and to what extent these ESM affordances influence employee creativity has not been analyzed. The primary objective of the current study is to explore the mechanisms by which ESM affordance stimulates worker creativity.

Basic psychological conditions

Psychological conditions comprise psychological outcomes of the cognitive and unconscious characteristics of job environments. Psychological conditions describe worker relationships and occurrences within a workplace. The present research employed Kahn [39] framework to acquire a deeper comprehension of individuals’ psychological states in the workplace. According to Kahn’s methodology, psychological situations determine the degree to which individuals are psychologically committed to their job in the workplace [3, 39]. This model highlighted three distinct psychological conditions: psychological meaningfulness, availability, and safety. Psychological meaningfulness identifies workers’ sentiments and the major purposes behind their job, and it represents work reasons or goals in connection to an individual’s personal ideas and values [40]. It stimulates employees to actively participate in their assigned duties [41]. Specifically, individuals who have strong psychological meaningfulness will be more dedicated and spend more time in enhancing their abilities to cope with workplace challenges. Psychological safety is the extent to which workers consider secure and relaxed in exposing themselves without nervousness about adverse consequences on their self-images, positions, or jobs [42]. Individuals with psychological availability are confident and have an open mind while performing a certain activity at work. Psychological availability is the assumption that workers have the mental, emotional, and cognitive capacities to fully participate in job activities [40]. This safety facilitates individuals to recognize and accept their coworkers’ support and also eliminate their own negative concerns. Prior studies reported that individuals who possess low psychological availability have less confidence which inhibits their work performance [3, 41].

In contemporary studies, Kahn [39] model of psychological states has been extensively applied in a broad range of contexts including employee agility [43], work engagement [44], trust, and knowledge sharing. ESM is a digital technology that promotes the extent and effectiveness of relationships [45], and it may have relation to employees’ psychological conditions. Nevertheless, the process by which ESM affordance affects psychological states has attracted minimal research attention from scholars. Therefore, the present study examines the relationship between ESM affordance and employee psychological conditions.

Hypothesis development

Visibility, basic psychological conditions

According to earlier research studies employees who have a higher degree of psychological meaningfulness are more likely to be dedicated to their organizations [3, 39]. Work is regarded as meaningful when it is recognized as important, valuable, or informative to professional or personal development [46]. Previous studies reported that social support [21], and appreciation motivate employees to more consternated on work instead of non-work related activities. Visibility facilities employees to build social connections and emotional ties within organizations [47]. Visibility affordance allows employees to present themselves to create distinction at the workplace and understand that their job is significant [13], and employees feel more worthy and valuable. Prior studies suggested that when the work of employees is considered with dignity, respect, and higher management, and workmates value their contributions, they are likely to acquire a sense of meaningfulness from their interactions [3, 44, 48]. In addition, visibility increases the possibilities for individuals to connect with similar backgrounds individuals [34]. For example, employees can view other workmates’ profiles, interests, information, and work-related activities [49]. Such interactions promote virtual communities, which can increase psychological meaningfulness by increasing individuals’ emotional attachments to each other. Hence, present research suggests the following hypothesis:

• H1a: Visibility is significantly related to psychological meaningfulness.

  Psychological availability describes an individual confidence that they have sufficient resources such as physical, social, and emotional support at the workplace [39, 48]. Scholars reported that psychological availability is developed by the reduction in anxiety, negative emotions, and external factors [40, 50]. Visibility permits employees to view colleagues’ information and acquire knowledge from their work practices [31, 47], which encourages employees to actively participate in work-related activities, enhance their knowledge, and, finally, enhance their energy levels. For example, there is a higher probability that individuals may obtain assistance from their peers when dealing with workplace problems [18], ESM visibility permits workers to be knowledgeable of each other’s work status. Furthermore, ESM visibility allows workers to easily access workmates’ information, and resources [32], and also monitor other activities, making it simpler for employees to discover coworkers in the organization who have similar expertise. Specifically, employees may accumulate cognitive assets by obtaining information and tracking individuals who have the specialized expertise and abilities they require [17]. Visibility may also promote the individual’s confidence that they have a sufficient resource, and information to complete the task, because an individual can view, and access task-related information easily [3]. In accordance with the aforementioned debate, the current study suggests the following hypothesis:

• H1b: Visibility is positively related to psychological availability.

  Psychological safety is an emotional state of thought in which individuals may entirely present themselves without concern for adverse consequences on their reputation, position, or job [51]. In a psychologically secure workplace, individuals have confidence that the environment may not degrade and that they will not criticized for exposing themselves [52]. Scholars reported that the primary barrier to developing psychological safety originates from the fear that expressing oneself would result in adverse consequences [3, 44]. Prior studies also reported that an employee’s positive interactions with management, fellow workers, and colleagues allow them to remain relaxed [4, 53], thereby improving their psychological safety. Visibility affordance stimulates a collaborative environment in terms of information transparency, network expansion, and connection with coworkers [2, 5]. In this environment, employees may be considered psychologically safe because of mutual confidence that has been developed among workers. In broad terms, visibility promotes an atmosphere of confidence in which workers can feel comfortable presenting their own emotions and opinions at the workplace. Based on this, the present study suggests the following hypothesis:

• H1c: Visibility is significantly associated to psychological safety.

Association, basic psychological conditions

We contend that association affordance can increase individual psychological meaningfulness at work. Specifically, association affordance cultivates interpersonal and psychological connections with coworkers [3]. Previous research revealed that association establishes connections between people to assist them in strengthening their current social interactions [13]. It also assists workers in obtaining technical and psychological assets from the organization to efficiently deal with several types of complex tasks [21]. By promoting easy conversations and relationships between employees, association affordance can increase employees’ psychological meaningfulness. These interactions promote informal groups that may increase psychological meaningfulness by increasing employees’ emotional attachments to one another. Hence, we suggest the following hypothesis:

• H2a: Association is significantly associated to psychological meaningfulness.

  Employees with psychological availability are motivated to be physically active, cognitively committed, and psychologically connected to their tasks [44]. Association affordance facilitates individuals to easily establish connections and collaborate irrespective of distance [54]. Individuals can conserve their energy and precious time in communication with people [4], thereby reducing physical effort. Specifically, the interpersonal and psychological connections established through association affordance may keep workers mentally available and dedicated to their tasks. Associations also offer coworkers possibilities of cooperation [21], which enhances the probability of psychological availability among workers. Based on above discussion, present research suggests the following hypothesis:

• H2b: Association is significantly related to psychological availability.

  Association affordance promotes psychological safety by allowing employees to obtain instant feedback, express their opinions, and receive immediate replies to their questions from coworkers [12, 30]. Employees are more likely to feel comfortable and competent in their job-related responsibilities. Kahn [39] observed that a workmate’s support and prompt response may have a positive relation with employee psychological safety. Furthermore, the possibilities afforded by the association in terms of information source and usefulness might stimulate collaborative modes of working [4], increasing the possibility of psychological safety. In such a friendly environment, individuals may experience comfort and confidence, and they are motivated to recognize their strengths and distinctive characteristics. Hence, this study suggests the following hypothesis:

• H2c: Association is significantly related to psychological safety.

Persistence, basic psychological conditions

This study also proposes that persistence affordance may have a positively related individual psychological conditions. It makes possible for workers to keep records of every piece of information and shared content and retrieve and use it in the next time in the near future [38]. This capacity enables individuals to deepen their meta-knowledge by utilizing or re-using knowledge and conversations with other individuals [33]. Persistence affordance could also improve employee connection with peers who have specific expertise within the organization, and allow wider and deeper ties [55]. With close ties, employees can easily resolve their workplace challenges by immediately acquiring help from others [18]. Specifically, persistence affordance further ensures constant access to information. Accordingly, employees may acquire knowledge from their workmates and efficiently consider the importance of their work [5], thereby anticipating potential career development. When individuals believe that their employment for an organization is valuable, they have a high feeling of psychological meaningfulness. Prior studies also suggested that individuals experienced meaningfulness when they felt worthwhile and useful in the workplace [3, 41]. Based on this discussion this study suggests the following hypothesis:

• H3a: Persistence is significantly related to psychological meaningfulness.

  According to a prior research investigation, employees with psychological availability are physically present, psychologically committed, and associated with their position [39, 44]. Persistence affordance maintains a record that employees may retrieve information at any time [38], providing an essential mechanism for employees to recognize and learn about their concerns and growing challenges. As a result, individuals are more likely to provide social assistance to each other. According to Treem and Leonardi [23], persistent affordance allows employees to reuse past information provided by other peers and increases social connection. Chen, Wei [21] also reported that reusing other individual’s content contributes to the building of stronger social ties among workers. The resources and knowledge offered by persistent affordance keep individual mentally present and dedicated to their task [38]. Specifically, employees’ psychological, physical, and mental capacities are improved through persistent affordance. Furthermore, it has been suggested that persistent affordance broadens the network of individuals from whom they may learn throughout the organization [4, 23], resulting in more possibilities of psychological availability at the workplace. Hence, we propose the following hypothesis:

• H3b: Persistence is positively related to psychological availability.

  Persistence assures that distinct knowledge and information are continually assembled in the organization by permitting the content to be consistently stored, which has been shown to be valuable in the formation of connections for individuals [13, 38]. van Zoonen, Sivunen [38] observed that persistence may enable a wide spectrum of user involvement in interactive activities, and this form of collaborative environment provides more confidence among employees. Persistence permits employees to access and observe previously recorded conversations across time and distance [4], permitting employees to participate in the conversation in a myriad ways. Persistence may enable workers to obtain, preserve, capture, reproduce, and circulate information decades after the content has been created. The ability to interact with information generations after its initial communication may empower individuals with confidence in their ability to retrieve earlier information at any moment. Based on this discussion, we can suggest the following hypothesis:

• H3c: Persistence is significantly related to psychological safety.

Editability, basic psychological conditions

Editability affordance enables individuals to freely update previously shared content on ESM [33]. When individuals discover deficiencies or inaccuracies in the content they published in ESM [5], they may enhance or fix it, assuring employees that content can be changed at any time. Editability has been discovered to be associated with employees’ self-expression behavior [56], because having a high level of control over editing allows workers to deliberately modify or transform communications based on distinct circumstances or expected opinions from colleagues, allowing them to convey their work in a more meaningful way. Editability not only enables individuals to edit their information posted in ESM but also update or modify the content shared by workmates [21]. Employees have the option to show their considerable knowledge or capability by editing or upgrading the information provided by coworkers. According to Sun, Wang [13], an individual can show their skills and abilities by updating information, sharing knowledge or ideas, or responding to queries from peers. Hence, we propose:

• H4a: Editability is positively related to psychological meaningfulness.

  Editability affordance may be significantly related to psychological availability since it develops social connections. Editability encourages individuals to proactively exhibit themselves through modification of information or specific collaboration, maximizing the opportunities for employees to establish social interactions in the workplace [21, 23]. Editability elevates the standard of transmitted content by enabling workers to exchange information among targeted audiences with greater concentration [4, 33]. Employees may better interact and collaborate with others when information quality becomes better [57], which strengthens social relationships and familiarity among workers. Based on the above discussion, the present research suggests the following hypothesis:

• H4b: Editability is positively related to psychological availability.

  Editability affordance has the potential to standardize the published information, enhance the reliability of information transmission, and promote the effectiveness of safety [33, 56]. Editability affordance allows the possibilities for individuals to edit, retrieve the prior contents, and be actively involved in group discussion activities at any time [56]. When an individual has a greater level of control over information published on ESM, they will be likely to be more engaged in task-related activities because they assume that their behavior is secure and will not result in any adverse consequences. Specifically, the affordance of editability presents social assistance, and confidence which is likely to improve psychological safety [21]. Scholars found that social assistance has considerable emotional significance in providing feelings of security and psychological safety [18, 44]. Leonardi [58] also considered that positive feedback and acknowledgment of workers’ content or behavior posted on ESM may provide them with a higher level of psychological safety. As a result present research proposes the following hypothesis:

• H4c: Editability is significantly related to psychological safety.

Basic psychological conditions, employee creativity

Prior scholars have identified psychological meaningfulness as an essential psychological state or condition in working environments [3, 39]. Psychological meaningfulness presents a resilient, long-term, internal motivation to involve individuals in creative tasks and responsibilities at work [44]. In this sense, individuals are interested in untangling the problems of work and utilize a considerable amount of time to strengthen their abilities to generate innovative ideas. Prior studies suggested that high meaningfulness results in a higher level of attraction and dedication [46], and employees may believe that their work is meaningful. Scholars reported that psychologically meaningful work contributes to better performance [3, 59]. Prior studies also demonstrated that work meaningfulness significantly affects employees when they obtain success at work. Psychological meaningfulness has the potential to promote confidence in employees’ abilities to produce creative ideas, overcome issues, and participate in creative activities [3, 60]. Specifically, when individuals trust in their capacity and talent, it provides individuals the confidence to attempt new solutions and address organizational challenges [3, 61], resulting in increased creativity. As observed by the aforementioned discussion, very few research in the currently available academic literature attempted to investigate the meaningfulness-creativity relationship. Hence, this study suggests the hypothesis:

• H5a: Psychological meaningfulness is significantly related to employee creativity.

  According to literature psychological availability is a critical psychological state for motivating individuals in a specific task [39, 44]. Scholars observed that when individuals become psychologically available, they possess greater emotional, physical, and cognitive capacities, as well as greater stamina to accomplish their tasks [40, 62]. Specifically, psychological availability provides vital resources for individuals to engage in work-related activities and promote their creativity. Furthermore, psychologically available individuals become emotionally engaged with tasks [3], both individually or with colleagues; they are psychologically attentive and emotionally attached to individuals at the workplace, and they express what they experience and believe [39], thereby enhancing their creativity. Beltrán-Martín, Guinot-Reinders [48] observed a statistically significant connection between psychological availability and employee creative behaviors. In accordance with Kahn [39] theory and consistent with previous results, we propose that individuals who consider that they can complete creative work activities become more motivated to participate in creative tasks. Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis:

• H5b: Psychological availability is significantly related to employee creativity.

  Psychological safety relates to individuals’ feelings that they can express their inner selves at the workplace without any fear [46, 63]. Previous research revealed that psychologically secure workplaces reduce individuals’ fear of rejection when they express a higher level of ideas [44, 64], which promotes innovative culture in the workplace. For example, Sun, Mengyi [4] revealed that workers in a psychologically safe environment may provide highly innovative ideas and may continuously engage in innovative work. Cai, Lysova [64] discovered that a safe workplace environment may decrease anxiety, which stimulates employee creativity. In a similar Agarwal and Farndale [65] proposed that individuals who perceived as psychologically insecure at work would restrict themselves and not be innovative. Specifically, psychological safety provides individuals with a stronger motivation to connect with other individuals and openly discuss work-related information since they experience less endangered. In addition, Cai, Huang [3] contend that an increased degree of psychological safety stimulates innovation among individuals. Several research studies have revealed a connection between psychological safety and innovation ideas, information acquisition, and innovation efficiency [18, 48, 63]. Essentially earlier research reveals a possible a significant connection between psychological safety and worker creativity. As a result, it may be claimed that individuals with higher degrees of psychological safety are better able to exhibit innovative behavior since the environment of psychological safety offers them a wider range of opportunities to communicate, share and generate novel ideas. Hence, we outline the following hypothesis:

• H5c: Psychological safety is positively related to employee creativity.

Research methods

Data collection procedures

We employed survey methodology to obtain data from Chinese employees employed in multiple organizations to assess the theoretical framework and proposed hypotheses of the study. Considering the increasing prevalence of ESM technology in China [3], this study was conducted in China. Chinese companies are increasingly adopting Enterprise Social Media (ESM) platforms due to their affordability, accessibility, and ability to enhance internal communication and collaboration. Operating in competitive markets with tight margins, these firms benefit from cost-effective tools like WeCom and DingTalk, which are often free or low-cost. High mobile internet penetration and seamless integration with widely used apps such as WeChat also support widespread adoption. Additionally, ESM tools help manage communication across large, geographically dispersed workforces, improving coordination and efficiency. Including Chinese employees in ESM studies has also offered valuable insights, addressing the cultural and geographical gaps left by the Western-centric focus of prior research. We approached six organizations through an information technology (IT) training institute to ensure the accuracy and efficacy of the questionnaire survey. This training institute offered several courses related to IT for working professionals. We recruited individuals from enterprises who employed ESM for work purposes within their organizations with the assistance of the human resource managers of training institutes. After conversations with their management, the corporations acknowledged the adoption of ESM technology as an economical communication tool. Respondents were notified at the initial stage of the questionnaire that their responses would not be disclosed to any other than the research group. Prior to obtaining the original survey, two questions were posted to discover if participants satisfied these conditions. The first item was framed similarly to a questionnaire item, but with the opposite meaning; if participants suggested the same responses to both of these two questions, their answers were declared inaccurate. The second query was related to common sense. If participants responded to the question inappropriately their replies were not regarded as relevant and were therefore eliminated. In addition, the author initiated a pilot study on 55 individuals, the findings indicate that all of the values of a pilot study are adequate.

In order to minimize the probability of common method bias and to uncover connections between variables, we employed a two-wave time-lagged approach with an interval of two weeks. In the initial step, we collected information concerning demographic characteristics, ESM affordance, and basic psychological factors. In the second step, we obtained data for employee creativity. In stage 2, we only approached individuals who had participated in the first round of the questionnaire. Furthermore, to mitigate for variance, we suggested the individuals report only their participation with organizationally offered ESM infrastructure, instead of their private utilization of ESM. The first wave of surveying occurred between November 2022 and January 2023. Over this time, we administered 515 questionnaires to the appropriate workers, and 435 responses were received with a response rate of (85.29%). We obtained responses for the next stage of the study approximately eight weeks, and we only focused on the 510 individuals who submitted responses in the prior cycle of surveys. A precise number of (44) survey responses have been omitted because of insufficient or redundant answers, or filling in a time limit of three minutes or fewer. As a consequence, 391 responses were found adequate for final data analysis. Furthermore, we examined a non-response bias assessment on the first (25%) and last (25%) outcomes of all survey responses incorporating [66]. The analysis concluded that non-response bias is not a significant concern in the present study. Table 1 highlights individual respondent’s statistical characteristics.

Table 1.

Demographics

Variables	N	Percentage	Variables	N	Percentage
Gender			Education
Male	226	57.80	Under-graduate	108	27.60
Female	165	42.20	Graduate	149	38.10
Age			Masters or Above	134	34.30
Between 21-30	100	25.60	Experience
Between 31-40	124	21.70	Less than- 1 hour	74	18.90
Between 41-50	95	24.30	2-3 hours	118	30.20
>50 year old	72	18.40	4-5 hours	100	25.60
Positio			More than 5 hours	99	25.30
General employees	114	29.20
General Managers	71	18.20
Assistant Managers	90	23.00
Departmenal Managers	52	13.30
Regional Managers	40	10.20
Directors	24	6.10

Research instruments

Following the prior studies approach, we adopted all the instruments from previously validated scales. Keeping the context of the study, we modified some items of some constructs. All the constructs of the study were anchored on Likert-type scales (1 = Strongly Agree, 5 = Strongly Disagree). During the questionnaire design process author also collaborated with the managers, PhD students, and Professor of school of Information and Management for critical review. Initially survey questionnaire was prepared in the English language, and a Professor from the English department was requested to proofread it for spelling, punctuation, and other typos. Furthermore, all of the individuals who participated in the present research are Chinese employees, thus we converted the original survey into Chinese, as stated by Van de Vijver, Leung [67]. For translation purposes, the author approached the translation committee to translate the original English language questionnaire into the Chinese language. The translation committee included three scholars from distinct backgrounds including information technology, management, and information systems. These three experts processed the original questionnaire into Chinese and then back-translated it into English. Finally, no significant linguistic modifications were identified by comparing the English and Chinese versions of the survey items. The survey items are detailed below.

ESM affordance

The ESM affordance included three constructs namely visibility (3-items), association (3-items), editability (3-items), and persistence (3-items). The scale of ESM affordance is adopted from Sun, Mengyi [4]. Example items of each constructs are visibility “Enterprise social media enable me to see other people’s answers to other people’s questions”, association “Enterprise social media enable to connect with other knowledgeable members of the organization”, editability “Enterprise social media enable me to edit others’ information after they have posted it”, and persistence “Enterprise social media enable me to find information about prior projects”. All the Cronbach α values of construct ESM affordance is shown in Table 2.

Table 2.

Results of measurement analyses

Constructs		Items	Cronbach α	Composite Reliability	AVE
Visibility		3	0.794	0.87	0.70
Association		3	0.811	0.88	0.72
Persistence		3	0.778	0.86	0.68
Editability		3	0.812	0.88	0.71
Psychological meaningfulness		5	0.877	0.89	0.62
Psychological availability		5	0.906	0.93	0.72
Psychological safety		6	0.855	0.90	0.60
Employee Creativity		7	0.829	0.87	0.51

AVE Average Variance Extracted

Basic psychological conditions

The measurement items of basic psychological conditions are adopted from Cai, Huang [3]. Basic Psychological Conditions included psychological meaningfulness (5-items), availability (5-items), and safety (6-items). Sample items of each construct are meaningfulness “My job activities are significant to me”, availability “I am confident in my ability to think clearly at work”, and safety “I am not afraid to be myself at work”. All the Cronbach α values of construct Psychological Conditions is shown in Table 2.

Employee creativity

The dependent variable employee creativity is measured using 7 items and adopted from Farmer, Tierney [68]. An example item of this scale is “Generated ideas revolutionary to our field”. All the Cronbach α values of construct employee creativity is shown in Table 2.

Control variables

Previous studies reveal that gender, age, education, experience, and responsibility may have related to individual outcome. As a result, these variables were employed as a control variable in the questionnaire and associated analysis.

Results and analysis

Measurement model

The measurement model of the present study is analyzed by computing the reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Priors scholars proposed that research data possess an appropriate level of reliability and convergent validity if the values of Cronbach’s alpha (CA) >0.7, composite reliability (CR) >0.7, and average variance extracted (AVE) >0.5 [69–71]. Results of Table 2 illustrated that CA for this study ranged from (0.778 to 0.906), thereby higher than the proposed value of 0.70. The CR values ranged from (0.87 to 0.93), exceeding the recommended value of 0.70 as presented in Table 2. The results also revealed that all the values of AVE ranged from (0.51 to 0.72), higher than the recommended value of 0.50. The convergent validity of the suggested model was evaluated using factor loading as shown in Table 4. The results indicated that all the values of loading are higher than the recommended threshold value of 0.60. As a consequence, measurement model possesses appropriate level of convergent validity and reliability.

Table 4.

Cross-loading

Constructs	Items	PSF	PSA	EC	PM	PR	AS	VIS	ED
Psychological safety (PSF)	PSF1	.820	-.068	-.013	.003	.081	-.059	.116	-.034
	PSF2	.800	.099	.005	.037	-.034	-.027	-.170	.046
	PSF3	.792	.033	.033	-.046	-.011	-.040	.009	-.006
	PSF4	.773	.012	-.063	.102	.085	-.020	-.059	.039
	PSF5	.753	-.004	.004	-.064	-.123	.054	.088	.047
	PSF6	.719	.015	.003	.012	.044	.085	.002	-.050
Psychological availability (PSA)	PSA1	-.038	.899	.011	.095	.033	-.026	-.018	-.040
	PSA2	-.026	.896	.036	.060	.026	-.023	.010	-.048
	PSA3	.038	.890	-.022	-.053	.010	-.014	.003	.011
	PSA4	.046	.883	-.023	-.067	-.001	-.012	.012	-.024
	PSA5	.077	.630	-.010	-.035	-.059	.097	.041	.085
Employee Creativity (EC)	EC1	.043	-.012	.776	.035	-.024	-.031	-.037	-.086
	EC2	-.040	-.020	.762	.093	-.032	-.024	-.099	-.025
	EC3	.124	.000	.730	-.014	-.014	-.012	.023	.092
	EC4	-.192	.008	.727	.028	.062	-.003	.043	.047
	EC5	.209	-.021	.662	-.094	.030	-.003	.069	.070
	EC6	-.059	.056	.637	-.028	-.218	.029	-.041	-.105
	EC7	-.035	-.026	.606	-.001	.226	.054	.059	-.022
Psychological meaningfulness (PM)	PM1	-.053	-.025	-.008	.924	-.028	-.051	.004	.019
	PM2	-.061	-.006	.001	.919	-.022	-.045	.007	-.002
	PM3	.179	-.042	-.009	.744	-.109	.074	.018	-.113
	PM4	-.017	.015	.056	.658	.133	.033	.011	.093
	PM5	.010	.077	.035	.644	.053	.054	-.013	.040
Persistence (PR)	PR1	.053	-.007	-.013	-.057	.847	.041	-.128	.064
	PR2	.043	-.030	-.013	.046	.835	-.057	.072	-.056
	PR3	-.053	.057	-.015	.002	.782	.008	.035	-.021
Association (AS)	AS1	-.064	.014	.008	-.007	.065	.884	.017	.080
	AS2	.108	-.082	-.029	-.023	.030	.835	-.037	-.177
	AS3	-.054	.072	.013	.069	-.106	.820	.014	.092
Visibility (VIS)	VIS1	.047	-.034	.029	.013	-.074	.016	.886	.017
	VIS2	.086	-.030	-.060	.056	.061	.014	.840	-.057
	VIS3	-.138	.116	-.003	-.046	-.001	-.040	.780	.033
Editability (ED)	ED1	.057	-.001	.054	-.079	-.053	-.029	-.006	.868
	ED2	.084	-.037	-.082	.123	-.082	-.040	.006	.858
	ED3	-.060	.003	-.024	-.027	.120	.061	-.008	.801

Table 3 displays the mean, standard deviation, inter-correlation between constructs, and discriminant validity values. The correlation analysis reveals that most of the correlation values align with expectations and fall within an appropriate range. For instance, visibility is positively correlated with psychological meaningfulness (r = 0.273, p < 0.01), psychological availability (r = 0.358, p < 0.01), and psychological safety (r = 0.114, p < 0.05). Similarly, association shows a positive correlation with psychological meaningfulness (r = 0.322, p < 0.01) and psychological safety (r = 0.99, p < 0.05). Additionally, psychological meaningfulness (r = 0.386, p < 0.01), psychological availability (r = 0.288, p < 0.01), and psychological safety (r = 0.205, p < 0.01) all have positive correlations with employee creativity. A full summary of the correlations among the constructs can be found in Table 3.

Table 3.

Correlation matrix and Mean, Standard Division

Construct	Mean	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1.Visibility	4.047	0.630	0.836
2.Association	3.144	0.951	.151**	0.848
3.Persistence	3.483	0.834	.210**	.082	0.824
4.Editability	3.385	1.065	.131**	.085	.253**	0.842
5.Psychological meaningfulness	3.612	0.756	.273**	.322**	.139**	.010	0.787
6.Psychological availability	3.594	0.899	.358**	.451**	.108*	.287**	.133**	0.848
7.Psychological safety	3.627	0.807	.114*	.099*	.247**	.539**	.073	.389**	0.774
8.Employee Creativity	3.998	0.587	.312**	.119*	.236**	.161**	.386**	.288**	.205**	0.714
9.Experience	NA	NA	.027	-.112*	.046	-.046	.056	-.020	-.156**	.082	NA
10.Responsibility	NA	NA	-.011	-.201**	-.005	.178**	-.154**	.067	.043	-.057	.107*	NA
11-Education	NA	NA	.044	-.122*	-.120*	-.099	.069	.056	-.106*	-.010	.255**	.015	NA
12-Age	NA	NA	.133**	.024	.066	-.101*	-.006	-.021	.091	.099	-.100*	-.023	.052	NA
13-Gender	NA	NA	-.035	-.190**	-.032	.166**	-.187**	.049	.038	-.076	.119*	.516**	.146**	-.047	NA

^*p<0.05, ^**p<0.01

In line with previous research, we used different approaches to assess the discriminant validity of the proposed model. Following Fornell and Larcker [69] strategy, we assessed the square root of AVE with the correlation of each construct. Table 3 exhibited the square root of AVE values (diagonal elements), which exceeds the correlation values of all the constructs. Second, Table 4 details the item-loading and cross-loading of all established constructs. Results illustrated that all items of all constructs were substantially loaded into the appropriate columns and minimally loaded into other columns, indicating that the study model had a sufficient level of discriminant validity. Moreover, we calculated the multicollinearity employing the approach proposed by. Accordingly to analysis results revealed that VIF values ranged from 1.01 to 1.47, which were lower than the recommended value of 5 [72]. Therefore, the findings concluded that multicollinearity was not a significant problem in this study.

Common method variance

In this study all the data is collected from a single source employing the same procedure, we applied distinct approaches to overcome the possible issue of a common method of bias [73]. Initially, some procedural approach was used to control the CMB problem at the respondent’s level. For the procedural approach, we obtained data in two phases, and participants were also suggested that the questionnaire items did not have a specified right or wrong answer. They were also assured of their privacy. Further, to minimize the probability of CMB, we strived for clarification in the survey design phase to provide simple questions to alleviate this difficulty [13]. In addition, we also employed some statistical analysis techniques to overcome the possible issue of CMB. Firstly, the correlation matrix (Table 3) presented that all the correlation values for all constructs were less than (r < 0.90), implying that CMB did not exist in the present analysis [74]. Next, the author evaluates the outcomes of the multicollinearity test, results demonstrated that all of the VIF values are significantly lower than the required threshold of 3.3. Additionally, we used the methods of Liang et al. (2007) to handle the CMB probability. As a result, we examined each item’s substantive and method factors. The results concluded that nearly all method factor loadings are non-significant, and have values (0.681) were higher than the average common method-based variance (0.002), implying that CMB may not be problematic. Finally, Harmon’s single-factor assessment concluded that the first component accounted for only 26.632% of the total variance, demonstrating that CMB is not an essential problem in our study. In conclusion, all of the findings demonstrated the absence of CMB in our study.

Model fit values

Prior to hypothesis analyzing, we also computed the model fit indices of the measurement model and structural model using the AMOS 24.0 version. The results of Table 5 illustrated that measurement model fit values are (χ2/df = 2.522, SRMR = 0.068, TLI = 0.894, RMSEA = 0.062, CFI = 0.906, IFI = 0.907), and structural model fit has values (χ2/df = 2.618, SRMR = 0.095, TLI = 0.894, RMSEA = 0.056, CFI = 0.898, TLI = 0.887, IFI = 0.899) are in a suggested range [71].

Table 5.

Comparison measure model and structural model

Absolute fit measures				Incremental fit measures		Parsimonious fit measures
Model	X 2/DF	SRMR	RMSEA	NFI	PNFI	CFI	IFI	TLI
MM	2.522	0.068	0.062	0.855	0.845	0.906	0.907	0.894
SEM	2.618	0.095	0.056	0.846	0.833	0.898	0.899	0.887

MM Measuremnt Model, SEM Structural Model

Hypothesis analysis

All presented hypotheses have been validated by using AMOS 24.0, as illustrated in Fig. 1. The empirical model accounted for 24.7% of the variance in employee creativity, 12.7% in psychological meaningfulness, 19.6% in availability, and 38.6% in safety. Table 6 indicated that visibility had a significant relationship with psychological meaningfulness (B = 0.169, p < 0.001), psychological availability (B = 0.623, p < 0.001), but not with psychological safety (B = 0.061, p > 0.05), H1a, H1b had been confirmed, and H1c is invalidated by current data. The association had a positive relation with psychological meaningfulness (B = 0.129, p < 0.05), psychological availability (B = 0.134, p < 0.05), but did not related on psychological safety (B = 0.032, p > 0.05), H2a, H2b is verified, and H2c is denied by present evidence. Persistence had insignificant relation to psychological meaningfulness (B = 0.041, p > 0.05) and psychological availability (B = 0.001, p > 0.05), but had a significant association with psychological safety (B = 0.183, p < 0.01), H3a, H3b are rejected, while H3c has been accepted by present findings. Editability affordance has positively related to psychological availability (B = 0.214, p < 0.001), and psychological safety (B = 0.421, p < 0.05), H4b, and H4c have been accepted by present data. Editability affordance has an insignificant relation to psychological meaningfulness (B = 0.061, p > 0.01), H4a is not validated. Finally, psychological meaningfulness (B = 0.410, p < 0.001), psychological availability (B = 0.151, p < 0.001), and psychological safety (B = 0.186, p < 0.001) is positively related to employee creativity, H5a, H5b, and H5c is validated, as indicated in Fig. 1. In conclusions, the present study validates H1a, H1b, H2a, H2b, H3b, H4a, H4b, H4c, H5a, H5b, H5c, and denies H1c, H2c, H3a, and H3c.

Fig. 1.

Results of path analysis. Note: ***p<0.001, **p<0.01, *p<0.05. Control Variables: (Gender: = -0.049; Age: = 0.047; Education level: = -0.041; Responsibility: = -0.005; Experience: =0.066*)

Table 6.

Hypothesis Analysis

Relationship	Coffecient	SE	T-Value	Result
H1a: Visibility to psychological meaningfulness.	0.169***	0.044	3.882	Supported
H1b: Visibility to psychological availability.	0.623***	0.093	6.673	Supported
H1c: Visibility to psychological safety	0.061	0.063	0.965	Un-Supported
H2a: Association to psychological meaningfulness.	0.129*	0.032	4.005	Supported
H2b: Association to psychological availability.	0.134*	0.065	2.059	Supported
H2c: Association is to psychological safety.	0.032	0.046	0.704	Un-Supported
H3a: Persistence to psychological meaningfulness.	0.041	0.038	1.081	Un-Supported
H3b: Persistence to psychological availability.	0.001	0.083	0.009	Un-Supported
H3c: Persistence to psychological safety	0.183**	0.061	3.002	Supported
H4a: Editability to psychological meaningfulness.	0.061	0.063	0.965	Un-Supported
H4b: Editability to psychological availability.	0.214***	0.049	4.408	Supported
H4c: Editability to psychological safety	0.421***	0.044	9.664	Supported
H5a: Psychological meaningfulness to employee creativity.	0.410***	0.079	5.207	Supported
H5b: Psychological availability to employee creativity.	0.151***	0.031	4.867	Supported
H5c: Psychological safety to employee creativity.	0.186***	0.045	4.118	Supported
Expertience to employee creativity	0.066*	0.028	2.330	Significant
Responsibility to employee creativity	-0.005	0.019	-0.276	Insignificant
Education to employee creativity	-0.041	0.038	-1.074	-----------
Age to employee creativity	0.047	0.029	1.631	-----------
Gender to employee creativity	-0.049	0.061	0.418	-----------

^*p<0.05, ^**p<0.01, ^***p<0.001

Discussion, Implications, limitations

Discussion

We evaluated how ESM affordances undermine employee creativity through psychological conditions, and a majority of predictions are validated in the present study. First, ESM affordances are significantly related to psychological conditions, which is in line with previous results that ESM usage is significantly related to psychological conditions [18, 44]. Specifically, results indicate that visibility and association affordance is significantly related to psychological meaningfulness and availability, whereas both have an insignificant relation with psychological safety, h1a, h1b, h2a, h2b is validated, and h1c, and h2c is rejected. Prior studies also revealed that the visibility of information or colleagues assists the employee in acquiring meta-knowledge [33], connect with similar background experts and improving their work performance [21]. As a consequence visibility affordance not only strengthens the employee’s physical, and social support but also visualize the individual’s achievements, and progress in a broad social network. Similarly, association affordance also connects employees with workmates or content within organizations [56], and individual can present their expertise [13, 75], and increases the psychological availability and meaningfulness. Association affordance also makes it easier for individuals to obtain access to resources like work-related information and expertise [4]. A possible explanation of rejected hypothesis (h1a) is that visibility affordance makes all the user information, and profile visible to others in a broad social network. Employees may feel psychologically unsafe since all their personal and work-related information is visible. Association affordance also indicated an insignificant relation with psychological safety (h1b). A possible reason is that association affordance enables individuals to develop ties with coworkers in different departments or new contact more readily and freely with coworkers with or without their knowledge. As a consequence, workers in this environment are perceived as psychologically uncomfortable. Contrary to expectations, findings demonstrated that persistence affordance is positively related to psychological safety and has an insignificant relations with meaningfulness and availability, h3a, h3b is rejected and h3c is accepted by this study. This may be happening with the characteristics of persistence affordance. On the one hand, earlier research revealed that with persistent affordance, information may be published on ESM and utilized by workers permanently and does not expire or disappear [38]. When relevant information permanently available on ESM, employees perceive psychological safe and can obtain information at any time. On the other hand, persistence affordance enables information uploaded in ESM to be preserved indefinitely and made available to workers whenever needed [21]. This capacity to constantly maintain allows employees to immediately and readily retrieve information once it has been posted on ESM. As a consequence, individuals are not required to present online because information is constantly accessible on the ESM platform, employees may obtain any information from ESM without requesting coworkers. This may be reduces individuals value and employees may perceive psychological meaningless.

Results also revealed that editability affordance is positively related to psychological availability, and safety, h4b, and h4c are supported by this study, whereas insignificantly related to psychological meaningfulness. Consistent with previous studies, editability encourages workers to proactively express themselves through manipulating information or selective sharing [36], increasing the chances of workers initiating social interactions within the corporation. Editability elevates the standard of exchanged information by enabling workers to share knowledge with targeted audiences more consciously [13]. Individuals can better interact and cooperate with others when information quality maximizes, strengthening psychological safety and meaningfulness.

Furthermore, results also reflected that psychological meaningfulness, availability, and safety are also significantly related to employee creativity, h5a, h5b, and h5c is validated by this study. In line with the results of prior studies that psychological conditions (meaningfulness, availability, and safety) improve employee ability to work [3]. For example, Cai, Huang [3] observed that psychological conditions (meaningfulness, availability, and safety) mediate the connection between ESM usage and employee agility performance. Similarly, Sun, Mengyi [4] reported that basic psychological needs satisfaction has a significant relation with employee agility performance.

Theoretical implications

The present paper advances the theoretical literature in various ways. Firstly, by analyzing the connection between ESM affordances and employee creativity, the present study extends our knowledge regarding the significance of ESM in the mechanism of shaping worker creativity. Previous studies on the relation of ESM usage and creativity primarily focused on the ESM usage lens with inconsistent outcomes [12, 14]. By exploring the importance of employees’ psychological states [41], the present research provides novel ideas on how ESM affordance yields value in employee creativity. The present investigation’s outcomes offer an understanding of the context of psychological conditions, determining the idea that ESM affordance values employees’ creativity through the consequences of psychological conditions. For example, when employees find their work meaningful, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated, which enhances their creativity. The affordances of ESM, such as providing platforms for idea-sharing, collaboration, and recognition, can contribute to employees perceiving their work as more meaningful. ESM’s affordances for open communication and collaboration can enhance psychological safety by allowing employees to interact freely in a non-threatening space. This safe environment can lead to higher levels of creativity because employees are more likely to share novel ideas, experiment, and innovate. ESM’s affordances, such as knowledge-sharing, task management, and social support, can reduce cognitive and emotional load by providing employees with the resources they need to focus on creative tasks.

Secondly, results indicate that ESM affordance affects employee creativity through psychological conditions. Furthermore, previous research on the influence of ESM usage on employee job performance and agility has focused on social network theory, information processing theory [47], and communication visibility theory [5]. The causal connection between ESM affordance and worker creativity has attracted little attention from researchers. Essentially previous research has highlighted the importance of psychological conditions in the connections between ESM use and employee agility [3], more research is needed to investigate the possible contribution of psychological conditions in strengthening employee creativity. This study integrates the psychological conditions framework with employee creativity in the context of Enterprise Social Media (ESM) to investigate how ESM affordances affect employees’ psychological conditions—namely, psychological meaningfulness, availability, and safety—through the lens of Affordance Theory. Furthermore, we explore how these psychological conditions influence employee creativity. Our research not only advances the understanding of the link between ESM usage and psychological conditions but also significantly broadens the literature on psychological conditions and their role in enhancing employee creativity. In the framework of ESM, affordances improve employees’ psychological conditions and provide enough psychological support for employees to develop their capacities and generate novel ideas. Considering the connection between ESM affordance, employee psychological states, and employee creativity, the present study not only expands existing research on the causes of worker creativity but also presents new empirical information and a theoretical foundation for enhancing worker creativity.

Thirdly, present empirical research demonstrates that ESM affordance promotes employees’ psychological state when performing tasks, which consequently stimulates creativity. Furthermore, while previous research has identified numerous aspects related to the psychological conditions of employees [44], it is ambiguous whether ESM affordance promotes their creativity. Our research appropriately enriches the antecedents and consequences of workers’ psychological conditions by concentrating on the influence of ESM affordances on worker creativity through psychological conditions.

Managerial implications

The present analysis provides managers with several suggestions on how to efficiently use ESM to strengthen individual creativity. Firstly, higher management can deliberately encourage workers to use particular ESM affordances to enhance their distinct psychological conditions. The present research attempts to convince managers to consider their employees’ psychological conditions when deploying ESM technology in the workplace [3]. As a result, our managerial recommendations emphasize psychological meaningfulness, availability, and safety. The results of study suggests that ESM should not only be seen as a communication platform but also as a psychological enabler that helps foster an environment conducive to creativity. By recognizing the affordances of ESM, organizations can better design systems that encourage creative behaviors.

Secondly, the current analysis demonstrates that the four ESM affordances have contrary relationship with meaningfulness, availability, and safety. As a result, to develop specific psychological conditions, workers should be motivated to employ specific ESM affordances. For example, findings indicate that visibility and association affordance is significantly related to meaningfulness and availability but have an insignificant relation with psychological safety. Therefore, to improve psychological meaningfulness and availability, managers should promote the use of visibility and association affordance of ESM. Further, results also indicate that editability affordance of ESM is positively connected to all three psychological conditions, whereas persistence affordance has only a significant relation with psychological safety. For example, managers may motivate workers to utilize ESM visibility and association to keep in contact with coworkers. Similarly, workers can use the ESM editability affordance to deliberately promote themselves and manage ideas. Managers could convince workers to use ESM editability to monitor queries from coworkers and provide assistance, or to use ESM association and persistence to learn from colleagues in the workplace. The usage of these ESM affordances may stimulate individuals’ initiative or assist them to develop resources to enhance their psychological conditions and strengthen their creativity.

Thirdly, results revealed that psychological meaningfulness, availability, and safety is significantly related to individual creativity. As a result, to promote employees creativity, managers should be focused on employee’s psychological conditions. Given the significant role of ESM affordance in strengthening individuals’ psychological conditions, higher management may also motivate the workers to increase the use of ESM to benefit from its several functionalities that are associated with ESM affordances. Accordingly, individuals make use of ESM visibility affordance to obtain comprehensive knowledge [5], establish their social relationships across the organization through adopting ESM association affordance; and utilize ESM editability affordance to disseminate emerging ideas on ESM platforms and further easily acquire assistance from workmates. For ESM to enhance creativity, organizations need to not only focus on the technological capabilities of the platform (e.g., features and functionalities) but also ensure that it fosters the right psychological environment. By creating ESM systems that support psychological meaningfulness, safety, and availability, organizations can increase the likelihood that employees will use ESM in ways that enhance creativity. ESM’s affordances act as key drivers in enhancing employee creativity by improving psychological conditions such as meaningfulness, safety, and availability. By understanding and strategically leveraging these affordances, organizations can create an environment that maximizes the potential for employee innovation and creative output. This highlights the importance of both technological and psychological factors in fostering creativity in the modern workplace.

Limitations and future directions

This study intends to extend the body of knowledge by emphasizing psychological meaningfulness, availability, and safety, which is rarely explored in the connection between ESM affordance and employee creativity. The findings of this study have several implications but also have specific limitations. Firstly, ESM technology consists of distinct affordances for individuals. Accordingly, Leonardi [58] described other ESM affordances involving leaky pipe, social lubricant, and echo chamber. The present research examines the influence of only four ESM affordances (i.e. visibility, association, editability, and persistence) on worker’s creativity. Future scholars may concentrate on other ESM affordances and their influence on individuals’ psychological states and creativity to better understand the value of ESM for firms and employees and highlight the possible benefit of ESM.

Secondly, the present research addresses the significance of ESM affordance in employee creativity without taking into account the possible role of moderating and mediating variables. Prior research has demonstrated that the consequences of using ESM under various conditions are distinct [76]. As a result, more investigations should be conducted to examine the role of various moderators including workplace environment, and task complexity in determining the boundary conditions of ESM consequences, and to provide more comprehensive direction to managers and workers on how to properly utilize and implement ESM technology to enhance worker creativity.

Thirdly, the current research concentrated on China. Although China is a leading example of a rising economy, it has distinct values, attitudes, and behaviors that may lead to biased results. Accordingly, in the Chinese working environment, several tasks are accomplished through mutual connections [6], and personal relationships. Future scholars may extend the scope of this study by using the same conceptual framework to other states with distinct socioeconomic, political, and cultural situations to determine if this paradigm is still appropriate. Another limitation of the present study is related to respondents. Specifically, we primarily focused on job positions where IT applications or ESM are employed for constant interaction and knowledge sharing. However, ESM is not necessary for some job positions such as machine operators, restaurant waiters/waitresses, and housekeepers. Further studies may investigate whether and how the role of ESM is distinct across various categories of jobs.

Finally, the present research is based on self-reported data collected from only one source at a specific point in time [73]. Although we contend that this method is acceptable and appropriate for this study, we recognize that certain subjective variations are impossible to avoid. In addition, the correlation values the correlation between psychological meaningfulness and psychological safety is 0.073 (not significant). Both psychological meaningfulness and psychological safety can be subjective, and their definitions and measures can overlap somewhat, leading to different interpretations in studies. This could make it difficult to clearly establish a strong relationship between the two constructs. For deeper statistical results and knowledge regarding the causal relationship of ESM affordances on psychological states and worker creativity, future scholars should collect data from numerous sources utilizing longitudinal techniques.

Conclusion

The outcome of this study is crucial in revealing the opportunities and challenges involved in the debate over ESM in the context of work. ESM tools are beneficial to organizations however some organization might opt to ban or limit the use of ESM, therefore fail to derive potential advantages that these tools may offer. This research contributes to the scholarship on the benefits ESM can bring to the creativity of employees especially through affordances to psychological conditions causal mechanism. These insights should persuade managers to create guidelines and recommendations for ESM implementation and help reduce managerial concerns that employees will become less productive or that employees may lose opportunities for exchanging information and support through personal networks at work. This research also provides the foundation for future research and practice to incorporate affordance and network considerations while working in ESM environments.

Authors’ contributions

Author “Wenxuan DU” helped in review process and overall improving the quality of paper. Author “Sobia Asher” also helped in the revision process. Author “Abdul Hameed Pitafi” conducted the study, wrote the main manuscript text and prepared figures and tables.

Funding

The author has not received any funding for this work.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles and guidance from ethical committee. All study protocols were approved by ethics committee of Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology Karachi. The following is ethical number of study. SSUET-1220. Further, an informed consent was obtained from the individuals who have participated in this study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.