The Impact of Social Networks on Employee Productivity in Commercial Banks in Kenya: A Case Study of NIC Bank Kenya.

Abstract

The general objective of this research was to assess the use of social networking sites and their influence on employee productivity in Kenyan commercial banks with a focus on NIC Bank. The study sought to achieve the following objectives: Determine the use of social media networks in Kenyan banks; to investigate the effect of social networking sites on employees’ productivity at NIC Bank and to identify the strategies that can be used by financial institutions to improve employee productivity via social media networks. The study adopted descriptive research design with the population under study being employees at NIC Bank Head Office. Simple random sampling technique was used to determine the sample size because of the homogeneity of the population and to reduce high refusal rates. The sample size was 50 employees. The collection of the primary data was done using structured questionnaires that were pilot tested first and then administered. The coding of the data was done with the use of Microsoft Excel as well as SPSS to generate the descriptive statistics like; frequencies and percentages. The presentation of the results was in form of tables and figures, as well as cross tabulations. The study findings reveal that social media was widely in use both by employees and by NIC Bank. Employees access social media multiple times a day on their devices in spite of the restrictions and existence of a social media policy. Employees accessed through their smart phones, tablets and other personal devices for a duration of between 1 and 2 hours. NIC Bank actively used social media for to reach customers, promote and market its products amongst other reasons. The study found that contrary to expectation, the existence of a policy did not completely deter the use of social media during working hours. The findings additionally reveal that employees were interrupting work to access social media. The study further revealed that there was a weak to moderate relationship between social media use and employee productivity. Employee productivity could not be fully explained by use of social media during working hours. Finally, the study also found that NIC Bank had implemented various strategies such as crowdsourcing, ‘Facebook Fridays’ and enterprise social networks to certain extents as it sought to improve employee productivity. The study concluded that it was impossible for organizations to completely restrict use of social media by its employeess during working hours. Employees would still find ways to access inspite of restrictions. The study also conludes that social media has a very weak impact on employee productivity. Other factors are responsible for decreased employee productivity. However, in spite of the weak relationship, banks should not ignore the use of various strategies such as social medai policies, discipliary actions, ‘Facebook Fridays’ amongst others in controlling the use of social media during working hours. Imposing a total ban on access to social networks sites at work is no longer practical or possible. Social networking websites are being created every week. The task of blocking access to every social networking website would be tedious and never ending. The study recommends that banks acknowledge this and look for a balance between social media use by employees while at work. Additionally, the study recommends the use of social media by banks to enhance its brand, promote and market new products as well as to handle customer issues. The study also recommends that in spite of the weak relationship between social media and employee productivity, there exists a relationship that cannot be ignored. In light of this the study finally recommends that banks implement various strategies such as a social media policy, disciplinary actions amongst others to improve employee productivity via social media.