Investigating the diffusion of IT consumerization in the workplace: A case study using social network analysis

IT consumerization, or the end-user's adoption of consumer IT for work purpose, is an emerging topic which recently attracted the attention of researchers and practitioners. This research adopted social network analysis techniques to investigate the determinants of the social influence that resulted in IT consumerization, as well as the structural features of such influence's network. By testing theoretically-based hypotheses with the exponential random graph modeling approach, our findings suggested that IT consumerization's influence tended to occur between employees in the same department, coming especially from those who frequently gave work advice, life advice, and organizational updates to others, as well as those who were trusted for expertise by colleagues. The research revealed that IT consumerization's influence was highly transitive, hierarchical, and non-reciprocal. The research concluded by elaborating future directions about the adoption of social network analysis techniques in technology adoption research, as well as practical recommendations about harnessing the determinants of such influence to manage IT consumerization.