Effective use of digital applications promotes professional self-efficacy
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/VINE-06-2014-0038 |
| Date | 11 May 2015 |
| Published date | 11 May 2015 |
| Pages | 279-291 |
| Author | Alon E Hasgall,Snunith Shoham |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Knowledge management,Knowledge management systems |
Effective use of digital
applications promotes
professional self-efcacy
Alon E. Hasgall
School of Business Administration, The College for Academic Studies,
Or Yehudad, Israel, and
Snunith Shoham
Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the use of digital applications
(DAs) in the daily life of organizational workers, and the workers’ professional self-efcacy.
Design/methodology/approach – A hypothesis was tested that the digital literacy of organizational
workers is positively correlated with their professional self-efcacy. To test the hypothesis, 300 Israeli
organizational workers lled online questionnaires that assessed their daily pattern of DA usage (both
during and after working hours) and their self-perceived professional efcacy. A linear regression analysis
was performed to identify correlations between the frequency (one dimension) and effectiveness (three
dimensions) of DA usage and the workers’ self-perceived professional efcacy (three dimensions).
Findings – The three dimensions of the DA usage effectiveness (diversity of the DA used, diversity of
the means and ease of access to the DA) were signicantly and positively correlated with all three
dimensions of professional self-efcacy (functional autonomy, work effectiveness and personal
knowledge sharing). In contrast, the frequency of DA usage was not correlated with any of the three
dimensions of professional self-efcacy.
Practical implications – High digital literacy allows rapid and effective retrieval of specic
networked content and an accessible means of multimedia communication. According to the ecological
model of organizational knowledge management, knowledge develops through diverse interactions
between workers and through their ability to retrieve and share knowledge. The ndings of this study
support this model and indicate that high digital literacy, manifested through easy access and diverse
use of DA, increases professional self-efcacy and knowledge sharing and, thereby, the stability of the
organization. Managers should thus encourage workers’ digital literacy by allowing convenient access
to a wide range of DA, both during and after working hours, to increase the organizational ability to
adapt to complex and rapidly changing environments.
Originality/value – DA are innovative tools that were only recently developed. This is the rst study
to characterize the relationship between the use of DA in daily life and the vocational behavior of
organizational workers.
Keywords Applied knowledge management, Digital applications, Functional autonomy,
Quality of applications use, Self-perception of efciency
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
From information management to knowledge management
The introduction and rapid advancement of novel information technologies has
changed the social, business and organizational environments dramatically in recent
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0305-5728.htm
Use of digital
applications
279
Received 16 September 2014
Revised 1 December 2014
23 January 2015
Accepted 27 February 2015
VINE
Vol.45 No. 2, 2015
pp.279-291
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0305-5728
DOI 10.1108/VINE-06-2014-0038
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